Stinging attack accuses Bishop of reneging on school promise

Thursday March 10th 2005

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, is facing one of the greatest challenges to his authority in his 10 years in office, following a blistering attack on his record by a school principal.

At a highly-charged meeting of parents and staff of Ennis National School, principal Gary Stack accused Bishop Walsh of walking away from the school after reneging on a promise to provide a preferred alternative site for a new school building.

With Dr Walsh deciding that the existing school should remain at its existing site in spite of strong opposition from the school, Mr Stack told parents: "I detest the prospect of taking the children to Confirmation this year, where we will get another dose of patronising patter from the Patron.

"It is very difficult to sustain any belief in organised religion because of what is happening to you."

Mr Stack also accused Dr Walsh of being an "absentee patron" to Ennis NS, while also questioning the bishop's priority in spending ?1.6m to save a 130-year-old spire for Ennis's cathedral while presiding over 300 children being educated in 30 prefabs across schools in Ennis.

Mr Stack said: "I think there is more to the role of Patron than turning up and being patronising once a year at Confirmation."

At end of a 30-minute address to parents on Tuesday night, Mr Stack received a standing ovation from 200 parents after they heard the school principal excoriate Dr Walsh's record relating to Ennis National.

Three years ago, Dr Walsh provided a written undertaking to Ennis NS that the diocese would make available a greenfield site for a new school building within the grounds of St Flannan's College in Ennis.

Currently, the 706 pupils are educated in cramped conditions with 13 prefabs strewn around the site, while a senior garda has stated that the traffic volumes around the school are creating "a significant risk" to pedestrians and cyclists.

However, Dr Walsh did not make good his guarantee to provide the site after separate reports from the Department of Education and a consultant's report commissioned by the Bishop recommended against the school moving to the new site, while St Flannan's College also opposed the move. The Department stated that "relocation to an alternative site would remove it from the heart of the community it now serves".

Breaking down at the end of his address, Mr Stack said: "This is a great day of sadness for me, because I have failed the children, I have failed you and I have failed my staff, but I will be able to say that by God I tried."

Bishop Walsh was unavailable for comment yesterday. However, in a recent interview he admitted that his failure to deliver on the promise has been one of the issues he has found most distressing during his 10 years in office.

Admitting that he is not good at any sort of confrontation, Bishop Walsh said: "It has affected me a great deal because the fact that I made a promise in relation to a site to the Board of Management of [the school] and I was unable to deliver on that and they were very hurt in relation to that."

Gordon Deegan

? Irish Independent