Signs saying, ‘No dogs No Irish’ were erected on the gates of the Gormanston college school earlier this week, but were quickly removed by the owners.
The signs referred to the fact that since a private company took over the college an area where locals used to walk their dogs is no longer accessible and also to the fact that a number of Ukrainian refugees are currently housed on the college grounds.
Gormanston College used to be a boys’ boarding school run by the Franciscan order, however, the grounds have been sold to a private company, which operates the multi-use facility Gormanston Park.
The school is no longer fee-paying, and caters for around 400 boys and girls in a building in the heart of the Gormanston Park campus.
What used to be boarder’s dormitories on the upper levels of the school has now been blocked off to house the refugees fleeing war torn Ukraine. whilst the pupils occupy the bottom two levels.
The college Parent’s Association, who had no connection with the erection of the signs, are anxious over the situation.
Speaking to the Drogheda Independent this week, a spokesperson for that group said, “There is so much fencing being put up to separate the two areas, it is starting to feel like a prison, which is not good for the mental health of the young people, and really can’t feel very good for the poor refugees either,”
“There is not supposed to be access between the refugees and the pupils, however, there are crates of dirty laundry being left in corridors, and there is still lift access between the floors where the refugees are sleeping and the pupils.
There has been a meeting between the school management, Gormanston Park, the parents and representatives of the Dept of Children, where these concerns were expressed.
Neither the College or the Gormanston Park management have made any comment on the ongoing situation/
