A needs analysis carried out by the parents' council of a secondary school threatened with closure in Kinvara, Co Galway, has found that there will be up to 700 children requiring secondary education in the catchment area by 2010.
The trustees of the Sisters of Mercy announced in October that they were closing Seamount College in Kinvara and disbanding the board of management.
This came as a shock to teachers, parents and pupils. The analysis of the second-level educational needs of the Kinvara area shows that to lose Seamount College would be a blow not just to the community but also to the wider area.
The analysis, which was carried out by the parents, included looking at the latest census results which confirm the strong population growth in the area along with existing and future planning permission.
Planning permission has also been granted for 1,216 dwellings within six miles of college in the last five years, and according to the parents' council there is enough high-density residential zoned land within a kilometre of the school for another 1,200 houses.
A spokesman for the parents' council said neighbouring schools in Oranmore and Gort were at or near capacity
"We believe that there is a moral and political imperative that we in Kinvara and its environs are afforded the same opportunity that other communities have enjoyed - to move from a single-sex school to a modern mixed model to cater for all the children of the catchment.
"The answer to our educational requirements is not to bus our 500 children out of our catchment across catchment borders to neighbouring schools that are already at or near capacity.
"In the Kinvara catchment area alone there will be 500 children requiring secondary education by 2010.
"If you add in the three schools that have a strong tradition of attending Seamount College that number rises to 700 children," said the spokesman.
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