Timing of school decision bolsters suspicion of bias

AT the heart of the long running campaign for Meanscoil Feirste lay an argument which was never publicly answered by the education…

AT the heart of the long running campaign for Meanscoil Feirste lay an argument which was never publicly answered by the education authorities in the North. Supporters of the school claimed the refusal to support it from public funds amounted to an unwillingness to give "parity of esteem" to a linguistic and cultural minority.

They pointed out that the North's Department of Education was willing to support interdenominational schools before they reached full enrollment, and said the lack of funds for the meanscoil was due to political rather than educational factors.

The timing of the announcement, just over two weeks before crucial elections and amid intense speculation about a renewed IRA ceasefire, will do little to allay those fears.

The school was set up in 1991 with nine pupils and grew rapidly, reaching 140 by last September and with a projected intake of about 200 this autumn. It applied for state funding three times b9 fore this, and each time the application was turned down on grounds of insufficient numbers.

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The department sets a target of 300 pupils before official recognition is granted. However, almost one fifth of schools in the North have fewer than 300 pupils, yet still enjoy state funding, according to the department's own figures.

By November 1994 officials accepted that the school's rapid growth suggested that it was only a matter of time before the target of 300 was reached. Growth projections suggested this could happen within three or four years.

The decision to reject the application for official recognition at that stage sparked a renewed campaign which included an Irish speaking "gaeltraen" from Belfast to Dublin along the lines of the Peace Train but with a different agenda.

The growing chorus of voices raised in support of the meanscoil reached far outside Irish language circles in Belfast to include the US ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring. The Ireland Fund donated 520,000

The first sign of a change in official attitudes came in March 1995 when the school was given £100,000 through the Making Belfast Work scheme. The funding, was announced on the eve of a visit to the school by Mr Spring.

Recognition the school marks a watershed for Irish medium education in the North, which is enjoying growth levels similar those experienced by the sector in the Republic.

There are three grant aided primary gaelscoileanna in Belfast with a total enrolment of 578, another in Derry with 224 pupils and an Irishmedium unit attached to a primary school in Armagh with an enrolment of nine.

Four other primary schools in the North operate without official recognition, while Meanscoil Dhoire, the all Irish secondary school in Derry, has an enrollment of 25. Although these schools are not currently grant aided, the department has said that any application for funding would be considered on its merits.

"In particular, a school would have to demonstrate that it would be able to sustain, an ongoing viable enrolment," it said. Significantly, no enrolment figure is mentioned.