Sir, – The Minister for Sport, Shane Ross, states he had no "hand, act or part" in the decision to award a sports grant of €150,000 to Wesley College, a private, fee-paying school located in his constituency, (Home News, March 23rd).
Apparently, the grant was made on the basis of a scoring system used by his department and, in his role as minister, Mr Ross just “signed off on that”. The Minister for Sport admits, however, that he had been “cheering for them” (Wesley College).
Was the minister cheering so loudly that his civil servants had no difficulty whatsoever in divining and implementing the wishes of their political master? – Yours, etc,
PAUL GULLY,
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Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Sir, – Having read Vivienne Clarke’s article “Ross says he had no part in school grant” (March 23rd), I was quite outraged to read that a fee-paying school, Wesley College, received a sports grant over Tallaght Community School for €150,000. Wesley College have students from many “well-off families” and is set in a beautiful part of south county Dublin, with excellent sports facilities.
As a former school teacher in the Tallaght area I know how hard parents and teachers work with little to give their young folk the best in education and sports. So, Wesley is awarded the sports grant? There’s something not right here.
Mr Ross denies any involvement in the decision-making process and that indeed may be true, but a Minister’s influence can be very strong. – Yours, etc,
RAY THOMPSON,
Kilcoole, Co Wicklow.