Sir, – I wish to take issue with an article in The Irish Times (May 24th) that is factually incorrect.
The article is a report of a hearing by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and it carried a headline saying “Only 3 per cent of Ballymun pupils move on to third level.” The correct percentage for Trinity Comprehensive is 37 per cent and this is also the percentage attributed to our school as published in the Irish Times School League Tables 2011 (the edition of November 22nd, 2011). Many of our pupils also progress on to PLC courses and if those students were included our progression rate would actually be 69 per cent.
I do not take issue with the reporter involved as the 3 per cent figure was given to the committee by a third party. The figure of 3 per cent originated in an article in the Irish Catholic (the edition of September 20th, 2011) where Kevin O’Higgins SJ states, “We estimate that no more than 3 per cent of the population in Ballymun was attending third level and I find that quite shocking.”
To conclude that only 3 per cent of Ballymun pupils move on to third level based on Fr O’Higgins estimate on attendance figures in the general population in Ballymun is very unsound and should not have been presented as fact at the Oireachtas Committee meeting.
However, as Trinity Comprehensive School is the only second level school in Ballymun the erroneous statement has the potential to damage our reputation with prospective students, parents, local agencies and feeder primary schools and I welcome this opportunity to clarify the matter. – Yours, etc,