Educate Together won’t open school amid department ultimatum claim

A new Educate Together primary school will not open next week in a former Catholic school building near Castlebar, Co Mayo, as the organisation claims doing so would have meant accepting it as a permanent home.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan said there had been an agreement that the old Burren National School premises, located 8km from the town, would be used.

As one of the properties due to change hands as part of the ongoing but controversial process of divesting Catholic schools to alternative patrons to facilitate greater parental choice, Educate Together said the latest development is a severe blow to the divestment process.