School does enrolment U-turn after 20 appeals

A Cork all-Irish school has reversed its decision not to enrol a third first-year class next September after more than 20 appeals were made to the Department of Education.

Gaelcholáiste Mhuire in the North Monastery — the city’s only northside all-Irish secondary school — was accused of changing the goalposts when about 50 of the 110-plus applicants to start there later this year were refused enrolment before Christmas.

While management were keen to accommodate three classes, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust which owns the school wanted to restrict numbers to avoid putting strain on the school’s facilities. The trustees want any expansion to be managed properly so that the necessary building works would be carried out to meet any rising demand for the school, which is under the same ownership as the adjoining North Monastery Secondary School.