After some uncertainty in recent days the Mercy Order has now agreed to implement a pre-election promise by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin which will avert closure of a secondary school in south Galway.
The Sisters of Mercy, who are trustees of Seamount College in Kinvara, Co Galway, have agreed to accept first-year pupils at the girls' secondary school this September for a five-year cycle to 2012.
However, the nuns will then close the school, according to a statement issued by the school's new board of management yesterday. The new pupils will not have the option of a transition year before completing their Leaving Certificate, the board pointed out.
The pre-election deal threatened to unravel earlier this week when it appeared as if the Mercy Order would not accept new pupils this September.
Ms Hanafin had agreed in May to sanction retention of a second-level school in Kinvara when the Mercy Order withdrew from education in 2012.
The Minister's sanction was subject to agreement by the Mercy Order that Seamount would remain "fully operational", accepting first-year students from September next and for the following years up to and including the 2010-2011 school cycle.
The nuns had said they would have to consider the proposal. The Mercy Order announced last October that it was withdrawing from Kinvara on a phased basis by 2012.
Seamount, which is located on valuable waterfront property in Kinvara, has more than 240 pupils on its books, and has been educating girls from Galway and north Clare since the 1920s.
The Department of Education had initially signalled acceptance of the decision, and had even agreed to change the catchment area to facilitate pupils travelling to the nearest school in Gort.
However, an intensive campaign was initiated by parents of pupils in the area, which was supported by Fine Gael senator and now TD, Ulick Burke, and the Progressive Democrats.
