There has been a huge outcry from the parents at Our Lady’s Grove school and from the local Goatstown community, in relation to the sale of the land surrounding our schools.
National and local newspapers and the RTE have been reporting. Respected journalists, broadcasters, university lecturers and Irish historians have been vocal about protecting school lands from being sold by religious orders.
This is a round up of news on the campaign by Concerned Parents and Residents against the sale of remaining land around Our Lady’s Grove Schools.
13th June 17OLG in DublinLive
Laura Lyne - Councillors slam sale of school lands in South Dublin
A number of motions addressing concerns over the sale of the lands were presented by councillors.
Plans to sell lands that are used as playing fields at Clonkeen College and Our Lady’s Grove primary school have been blasted by councillors at last night’s meeting of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. A number of motions addressing concerns over the sale of the lands were presented by councillors.
The Clonkeen lands in Deansgrange are to be sold by the Christian Brothers for around €18 million, and seven acres of land will be sold. The sisters of Jesus and Mary plan to sell the 5.4 acre Our Lady’s lands in Goatstown for around €13 million.
The congregation of Christian brothers were slammed by numerous councillors who said they were using the lands as an attempt to get their redress obligations without considering the consequences. The profits from the lands in Our Lady’s Grove are not to be used for redress, as the sisters do not have any such obligations.
The councillors also said that it was not acceptable for children’s playing lands to be sold off. It was also suggested that the lands should be sold to the Department of Education in an effort to ensure that the lands remain in school usage. Calls were also made for the details to be shared with councillors and the public in order to make an informed decision, and for the relevant Minister to stop avoiding the issue.
A number of councillors said that the Minister needs to act due to the complications with the ownership of the lands, with calls made for the government to step in and take action to keep the lands in school use.
13th June
In The Irish Times Letters
Religious orders and school lands
Sir, – The Bishop of Ferns recently spoke of the “hostility people feel towards the church in general” (News, June 12th). Your pages have recently highlighted the attempts of two religious orders to deprive young people of school sports facilities. If this were not enough to work against the public good, there were the less than edifying business methods employed. In the case of the Christian Brothers and lands at Clonkeen College, negotiations with developers were conducted behind closed doors for about a year before anything was known to the public. Quite apart from the ethics of this proposal, the Christian Brothers lacked the honesty, the business decency and good manners to inform the school board of management, the principal, the parents or the local community.
What idea will the boys in that college form about religious orders or churchmen in general? Are boys in that school expected to see the actions of the Christian Brothers as “Christian”? Are they expected to see in the dealings of the Christian Brothers and the Edmund Rice Schools Trust an ideal business model? Are they to apply these methods when, in years to come, they contribute to Irish society? Or will they turn their backs on an increasingly out-of-touch church where they see only hypocrisy?
And the bishop complains of “hostility”.
– Yours, etc, JIM BYRNE, Dún Laoghaire
Sir, – I suggest that The Irish Times should add a “Religious Property” section to its portfolio to help religious orders get the best possible price for their fields and buildings.
– Yours, etc, ULTAN Ó BROIN, Blackrock
14th June
OLG in The Irish Times Letters
Religious orders and schoolpitches
Sir, – The recent secretive sale of the children’s sports facilities at Our Lady’s Grove in Goatstown in Dublin by the Sisters of Jesus and Mary might give some a more accurate insight into why people have become increasingly mistrustful of the clergy. The “gradual exclusion of church people from the public space”, alluded to by Bishop Leo O’Reilly (News, June 12th), is probably more due to the actions of the church rather than any perception. Actions, as we all know, speak far louder than words.
– Yours, etc, PAUL and DEIRDRE MURPHY, Goatstown
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