Greystones To Form Pupils Before Prophets Party…?

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The powers that be may be saying that there’s nothing to see here, but it’s clear that there’s still trouble aplenty at St Patrick’s National School.

Having sparked a national debate when long-serving principal Eileen Jackson resigned in July over what she claimed was increasing exclusivity at the school by its patron, the St Patrick’s Church, the accusations and denials have been flying ever since.

Even if all the evidence points clearly to the church indeed having a stronger hold than ever on the admissions at the school. Of the 24 newbies walking through the door of St Patrick’s this year, 22 of the kids are regular Church Of Ireland attendees.

The recent – and temporary – resignation of Canon David Mungavin from the role of chairman of the board at St Patrick’s National School (after a deafening vote of no confidence in August) has not alleviated matters, with his replacement, Canon Adrienne Galligan, clearly singing from the same fundamentalist hymn sheet.

And now, another teacher has just resigned from St Patrick’s National School, unable, it seems, to quite handle the toxic atmosphere there. Ms Kiara Drake had been in St Patrick’s National School for many years before becoming principal at Rathdown Junior School. Her return to St Patrick’s has been shortlived.

As many in Ireland join the rest of the world in a call to take religion out of our schools, it would appear that for an increasing number of parents, education is no longer an ecclesiastical matter.

With St Patrick’s Church continuing to dig their heels in on the matter rather than face the facts, it’s clearly taking them a little longer than most to wake up and smell the incense…