Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod this week

A look at news from around Ireland

School Struggles
OUT in West Clare it’s a tale of two schools -- one with four pupils that is about to close its doors after 152 years, and another that needs four pupils to ensure its survival.

The classrooms in Scropul National School will fall silent at the end of the month when the school closes for good.  However, further up the coast road in Doonbeg, Baltard National School is looking to enroll four additional pupils to ensure it reopens for the new school term in September.

With just five pupils currently attending Baltard, the school will host an open day on Friday in an effort to bolster school numbers and to coincide with the raising of the schools recently acquired Green Flag.

For the school to be deemed viable, Baltard, which marked its 100th anniversary in June 2011, will have to increase its pupil numbers to at least nine come September.

Efforts to ensure the school opens for its 102nd academic year come at the same time as Scropul National School, in the Kilmurry Ibrickane parish, enters the final weeks of its 152-year history.
Michael Haugh, chairman of Baltard National School Board of Management, is hopeful that the school’s open day on Friday might help to boost attendance numbers for the next academic year.

“If we get four new pupils in we can hold on to the school. There’s a good chance. We saw the opportunity of using the raising of the green flag to have an open day, to try and attract more pupils to the school,” he explained.

Deirdre Cotter is in her second year as principal and during her tenure the school has been revamped, equipment wise. The school also has a resource teacher and a school secretary.
Although the Department of Education was in touch some time ago querying the viability of Baltard National School, Haugh says the department had not made contact in recent months.

“They never wrote back to us one way or the other. They didn’t tell us what was happening. If they were closing us, they’d have told us at this stage so at the moment we’re assuming that everything is okay and if we build up the numbers, we’ll be staying put. If we can turn it around, it would be a great school,” Haugh said.

Clare Champion

Brotherly Ear Bite

A DONEGAL man who bit off his brother’s ear in a fight has received a suspended jail term at Derry Magistrate’s Court.

Sean McCallion, of Dunberry Hill, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to wounding and possessing cannabis when he appeared in court on Friday.  The charges relate to an incident on August 24, 2011.

The court heard that police were called to an 18th birthday party, and when they arrived the injured party’s ear was “dangling off.”

It was revealed he had to get 22 stitches to the injury and has suffered problems with his hearing since the incident.

Police spoke to the man about his injuries, and he said “it was brotherly love” and that he and his 22-year-old sibling “fight all the time.”

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Nster.com