No deal reached after meeting over schools’ plans

A meeting between the Catholic Bishop of Cork John Buckley and three city schools has failed to bring about an agreement on how to deal with dropping pupil numbers.

The bishop had called the meeting to try to sort out a row sparked earlier this month when Scoil Mhuire Fatima announced its intention to enrol junior-infant boys from September.

The school insists there is parental demand to allow it teach boys all the way through the primary cycle, as an all-boys school at the North Monastery currently only has pupils from second to sixth class.

The plan drew strenuous opposition from St Vincent’s and North Presentation, two girls schools in the same North Cathedral parish which both also teach boys but only up to first class.

They were concerned about the likely impact on their own enrolments. They said that the move went against a spirit of co-operation that had been agreed locally and which would be needed going forward after controversial restructuring plans were withdrawn by trustees in March.

Despite the bishop’s intervention, agreement on a way forward could not be found yesterday.

“No consensus was reached at the meeting on the proposal by the North Monastery to enrol junior boys,” a spokesman for Dr Buckley said.

“It was proposed that the North Mon would withdraw their proposal to enrol junior boys and subsequently a process of consultation between the three schools in the cathedral parish and their trustees would begin to secure Catholic education in the parish in the future, in the face of declining enrolment.”

While the prospects for progress remain unclear, it is understood the possibility of Scoil Mhuire Fatima agreeing to such a process has not necessarily been ruled out. Its board is scheduled to consider the situation next week, after which a statement of its position is likely to be made.

The combined enrolment of the three schools has fallen by almost 150 since 2007, but the biggest drop was at Scoil Mhuire Fatima.

The boys’ school garnered strong public support in face of the unsuccessful plan of the three schools’ trustees in February, which would have seen it amalgamate with St Vincent’s on the convent school’s grounds.

The shelved plan would have seen North Pres become fully co-educational on a phased basis and a local gaelscoil move into the North Mon buildings vacated by Scoil Mhuire Fatima.