A school in a picturesque area of county Galway is offering a five-bedroom house rent free for a year to a family if the children of the family are of schoolgoing age.
The school has been given the house at a good rate from a local family, with help from a community funded initiative backed by the Comharchumann Dhúiche Sheoigheach Teo co-op and local business ECC.
Gearoidin Ui Phiric, Principal of Scoil Naomh Padraig, An Chloch Bhreac said that if they fail to register sufficient numbers of school children for the coming academic year, a teacher and eventually, the facility, could be lost to the community. However, the addition of just a few children could help the school avoid losing a teacher for next year and save the school.
The school has been at the heart of Cloghbrack for the past 60 years and is used for all sorts of local activities — to lose it would be a death blow to the locality, she feels.
“It’s a small little community, there was a post office and a shop that’s closed. So I suppose you know, the school can bring people together. Sometimes there’ll be courses and events at weekends, and we have card games at Christmas and that sort of thing for the community. So it’d be a shame to lose it.
“It’s not just about the teacher, it’s actually about the future of the school. Teachers would be relocated, or you know, any of us would be relocated. This is not about us at all. This is about keeping the school in the community for the community, because I do feel once the school goes in you lose that community spirit you know, where everybody’s together, it would be such a shame.
“It is beautiful school in a beautiful area, fantastic facilities, we have a pitch, we have a playground, we have yard games, with an outdoor classroom, you know, in a beautiful scenic area. So it would be such a shame if it went.
She said that the area has great fishing, hill walks, restaurants, a park-run in nearby Clonbur, so the successful family will have a great quality of life in of the most beautiful places in the country.
She said that the successful family do not have to be able to speak Irish, although it would be an advantage as the school curriculum is taught as Gaeilge.
“It is a great opportunity for people to get off the hamster wheel and get out and enjoy living in the country,” she said, adding that they expect well over a thousand applications for the house, given the current housing crisis.
“We might have a mammoth task ahead of us, but whatever needs to be done, will be done,” she concluded.
