“PRISONERS have more space than our children do”.
That was the grim reality described by a teacher at Scoil Chaitríona in Cappamore, where parents and community members are holding a round-the-clock vigil outside a former convent building many feel is urgently needed by the growing school.
The Sisters of Mercy Convent building is at the heart of a massive issue affecting the school, with its growing pupil population and increasing number of students with special needs in particular.
The school has long had its sights on developing the former convent building for its own use, but now staff have been told that the Coolmine Community, which provides invaluable services to addicts in recovery, had agreed to lease the building.
At present, the area of the Covent grounds which children at Scoil Chaitríona had historically used for play and outdoor activities has been fenced off, and the school is left with no other space to expand into much-needed new classrooms and special facilities.
Teacher at Scoil Chaitríona and a member of the Cappamore Community Group, Maggie Sheehy, described the situation to the Limerick Post.
“The area the children have outdoors is the size of a tennis court. They have no place to move and run and play,” she said.
“We have two autism classes now and our sensory and movement room, which is vital to those children, is literally a converted divided cupboard.
“If the convent goes to some other organisation, we literally have nowhere else to go. The school PE hall was built in 2011 and has been used as a classroom for the last four years due to rising numbers. Prisoners have more space than our children do.”
In the community since the 1890s
The adjoining Sisters of Mercy Convent building was gifted by the order when they moved out in 2019 to the Cappamore Housing Association, pending certain conditions which would mean the premises would always be at the service of the community.
The building has been part of the community since the 1890s. The school stepped aside when a relief programme for Ukrainian refugees was sought, but it expected to re-occupy the building when it was no longer needed.
Now, Maggie Sheehy says, the Ukrainian families have moved on and the school had been using the grounds of the convent as a play area for the children and part of the ground floor as a storage area.
The Cappamore Housing Association (CHA) emailed the school’s board of management on the March 6, 2024, to inform the Scoil Chaitríona that it had a charitable organisation lined up who would pay a substantial amount of money to lease the building.
The CHA stated it would give the school two weeks to come up with a counter proposal of leasing the building.
The school got assurances from Education Minister Norma Foley that she would do everything she could if Scoil Chaitríona could get a valuation on the building.
The school opened its first autism class in 2019, one of the first in the local area. It now hosts two autism classes, which serve not only Cappamore but also further afield.
Legal threat
In October, the CHA revealed that it had signed a lease with addiction services provider Coolmine for a temporary accommodation facility for women and children.
Just before Christmas, the CHA received a letter threatening legal action on behalf of Coolmine if the lease, which was signed, is broken.
Scoil Chaitríona teacher Maggie Sheehy told the Limerick Post that “the fact is, we are landlocked here in in the school. There are housing estates all around us and the convent is the only place we can go to expand. If we don’t have that building, we just don’t see how the school can continue here.”
In answer to a request for comment from the Limerick Post, a spokesperson for Coolmine Therapeutic Centre said “at this time, we are not in a position to comment on the matter”.
In a statement, the Cappamore Housing Association said that it fully supports the school’s aim to provide autism facilities, adding that “there have been public requests for the CHA to hand over the old convent building and/or the keys to same”.
“Those requests must be viewed in the context of the guidelines for charities and it is impossible to delegate responsibility or ownership of the convent building and grounds without going through due process.”
The CHA said it had asked Coolmine not to proceed on the lease and added that it “is very happy to transfer ownership of the building and grounds of the convent to the owners of Scoil Chaitríona, however due process needs to be followed”.
Referring to plans already train for a bespoke autism facility, the CHA statement said: “We are deeply disappointed on behalf of the parents and children that extremely limited progress seems to have been made over a four year period on the development of the autism spectrum facility and additional playground areas which Cappamore Housing Association CLG had agreed to provide previously.”
“We are also disappointed with public statements on the part of representatives from some of the support groups suggesting that children in the school were and are being deprived of play areas and that this is in some way the responsibility of Cappamore Housing Association CLG.
“This is clearly not the case and Cappamore Housing Association CLG is surprised that the school’s board of management have not progressed the offer made by Cappamore Housing Association CLG for new playground space dating back to 2021”.
