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Balbriggan set for new Gaelcholáiste school

January 3, 2012

By FERGAL MADDOCK

Tuesday December 20 2011

AN OFFICIAL application for the patronage of a gaelcholaiste in Balbriggan, which is due to open in September 2014, is currently being prepared by An Foras Patrunachta and local parents who have run a four-year campaignto have an secondlevel irish school in the town. The Department of Education and Skills (Minister Ruairi Quinn, pictured below) has already confirmed that the new secondary will be a gaelcholáiste but the patron has yet to be decided. The long-serving founding committee for Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, who have invested considerable time and energy in the project, believe it was their campaign, along with all the submission made to the department in September 2010, that paved the ground for the new gaelcholaistle. Tadhg Ó Tuachaigh, the chairman of the founding committee for Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, said: “The fact that the Department of Education has decided that the only school to be opened in Balbriggan at second level is to be a Gaelcholáiste catering for up to 1,000 pupils is everything that we could have hoped for. ‘ The demand, desire and absolute need for a Gaelcholáiste was clearly evident through the registration of 750 pupils for a school that doesn’t even exist yet. The last thing that is left to be decided is patronage and we really hope that the Department will see our efforts, along with the commitment of An Foras Pátrúnachta to our vision, as the ideal solution.’ An Foras Pátrúnachta is currently working on an official application for the patronage of Coláiste Ghlór na Mara in Balbriggan. A recent public meeting held in Balbriggan, funded by Aitheantas, gathered significant support from interested parents and community members. The decision regarding patronage will be made known in late spring 2012. To register your interest in the new Gaelcholáiste under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta, please visit either www.colaisteghlornamara.com or www.foras.ie. If you would like to help with this campaign, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email Caitríona Bairéad at caitriona@foras.ie or call 01-6284110. An Foras Pátrúnachta is the national patron for both primary and second level schools, seeking to develop, strengthen and promote education through the medium of Irish throughout the country.

Fingal Independent