AN ALL-IRISH national school has been told it is closing less than seven weeks after Minister for the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley told its centenary celebration he hoped it would remain open for another 100 years.
The letter to close the Meenamara school 3km from Loughanure, Co Donegal, arrived on Thursday.
Parents at a meeting with the school board on Thursday night remembered the words of local TD Mr McGinley on the night of the celebration on October 22nd.
One parent said: “He was full of praise for the school and spoke very favourably about its ethos and said he hoped it will remain open for another 100 years. And now we are told by the Department of Education that we are to close at the end of this school year.”
Although it is a mixed education school, the only pupils are seven girls. It once had more than 60 pupils, including in its early days Seamus Ó Grianna, a writer widely read by learners of Irish during the 20th century.
School principal Bernie Ní Dhuibhir said: “We were devastated when we received the letter.”