The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, yesterday spoke out against the lack of consultation with the church over the provision of a new post-primary school in Moville, Co Donegal.
He said the absence of consultation was a serious breach of the 1998 Education Act which upheld the necessary consultation between the Minister for Education and all education partners.
Dr Hegarty was speaking at the end of a confirmation ceremony in Moville on Wednesday. He told The Irish Times that the need for a post-primary school in Moville dated back to the 1970s. Children had been attending the Carndonagh Community School. Approval for the new school was signed last year by the former minister for education, Mr Martin, on his last day in office.
"Neither I, as Bishop of Derry and as a trustee of Carndonagh Community School, nor other church people were consulted. I hoped that there would be some initiative in contacting me. I then wrote to the Minister on December 5th, 2000, expressing my disappointment in fairly strong terms," Dr Hegarty said.
While he welcomed the provision of a new post-primary school, he had serious misgivings about the way in which the announcement was made and about the management structure.
"As an interested party in the provision of educational opportunity anywhere in the diocese, I regard as totally unacceptable the absence of due consultation regarding the establishment of this school," he said.
He said he would have expected the then minister to have initiated the consultation with him. The new Minister for Education, Dr Woods, had not replied to his letter, apart from a brief acknowledgement.
The bishop said he still awaited a response.
Dr Hegarty said he had reservations about the prospect of the new school becoming a non-designated community college without all interested parties being consulted. He understood the parents' association met in February and it believed the management structure should be four nominees of the Vocational Education Committee two parent nominees and one member of the teaching staff.
He welcomed the role of the Co Donegal VEC in this project.
Dr Hegarty said he was concerned about the provision of Catholic religious education for the Catholic children attending the school.
"While recognising the rights of parents to be heard in determining the kind of school their children will attend, others, including the churches, also have a right to be heard. In this particular case, the views of the Catholic Church have not so far been elicited. This consultation is long overdue and must be undertaken," he said.
The Department of Education had not responded to queries yesterday at the time of going to press.
