Famous school ends boarding tradition

A famous school in the west of Ireland is closing its doors to boarders after a tradition lasting more than 200 years.

St Jarlath’s College in Tuam, Co Galway, is the latest school to be affected by a fall in demand for boarding places.

The practice has already been phased out at St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, St Colman’s in Fermoy and St Flannan’s in Ennis.

College president Fr Conal Eustace said it was a momentous time in the school’s history.

“The very idea of having a kernel of boarders gave some sort of heart to the school and it’s difficult enough to envisage what it will be like now that they’re gone. It’s hard to imagine the whole place with nobody staying in it,” he said.

While the school continues to take day pupils, it stopped taking new boarders two years ago. The last 61 third-year and fourth-year students are due to leave the school in the next two weeks when they complete their exams.

“Some of them will go to different schools and some of them will take up digs in Tuam and do the Leaving Certificate here,” said Fr Eustace.

The school was originally established in 1800 by a Catholic bishop to supply recruits for the priesthood to Maynooth College, but it soon became better known as a nursery for Gaelic football.

The photographs of the school’s 12 Hogan Cup-winning teams line the corridors and a question about Gaelic football is guaranteed in its entrance exam each year.

Its former pupils include Sean Purcell, who was chosen on the GAA Team of the Millennium and current Galway players like Padraig Joyce, Michael Donnellan and Michael Meehan.

At its height in the 1980s, St Jarlath’s had about 350 boarders, but the numbers have declined rapidly since then.

“The demand for boarding schools seems to have disappeared,” said Fr Eustace.

“What parents would like now is to get their child boarding for the final two years. They feel they’re a bit young to come in first year. But you cannot run a school on the basis of an influx of people coming into your classes in fourth year.”

Another reason for the end of boarding is the decline in the number of priests, who traditionally supervised the boarders and took charge of after-hours sports and study.

The school also agreed with the Department of Education to phase out its boarders to facilitate an amalgamation with St Patrick’s, another local boys’ secondary school in Tuam.

“We’re waiting for the go ahead and hoping it will be as soon as possible, but we have no indication as to when it will be,” said Fr Eustace.