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Saudi Arabia’s plan to establish a school in Ireland is receiving a mixed response, especially from non-Saudi Muslims worried that the kingdom’s monolithic view of Islam could be a source of conflict, reports Foreign Affairs Correspondent MARY FITZGERALD

THE NEWS THAT the government of Saudi Arabia plans to establish a school in Dublin has its genesis in a meeting that took place in a city-centre hotel late last month. In attendance were several Saudi nationals studying in Ireland; visiting members of the education committee of the Saudi Shura Council, an unelected body whose members advise the kingdom’s government; and Abdulaziz Aldriss, Saudi Arabia’s first resident ambassador to Ireland. An account of the meeting in Arabic, together with a photograph of those present, was posted on the website of the Saudi embassy in Dublin.