Green light for de Valera school to be redeveloped

A former school attended by Eamon de Valera is to be declassified as a protected structure following a campaign by local groups who want to see it redeveloped.

The old Christian Brothers School in Main Street, Charleville, is in a serious state of disrepair and both the local chamber of commerce and community council have successfully campaigned to get it removed from the council’s protected structure list.

De Valera attended school there from 1896-1898, but a consultant archaeologist and heritage expert employed by the two organisations argued that as the school had been completely remodelled in the 1920s there was nothing tangible left to associate with his days there.