Principal leads campaign to prevent the closure of rural Mayo school with three pupils.
There was a time when Carrowmore Lacken National School near Killala in County Mayo had 100 pupils. As there has been no enrolment since 1997, numbers have dwindled to just three pupils.
School principal Padraig O Laimhin and the rural community are pleading to have the school kept open for another year. But it has been ordered to close by Minister for Education Micheál Martin.
Parents and the community of Carrowmore Lacken are taking issue with the order and are determined to fight to save the school.
We are saying to the Minister we will not go away.
Local people stage a protest outside the school building. Council for the West's Marian Harkin rallies those present,
This community is fighting for it, and it deserves its school.
To help boost pupil numbers, a family from Kerry with two children has offered to move to the area. Joe Brett of Meitheal Mhaigh Eo believes their offer for rural resettlement should be considered,
These are genuine people who want to move to a rural way of living and put down new roots and start new lives for themselves.
With eight new houses being built beside the school councillor Brian Golden cannot understand why families would move to an area without a school.
The school is to officially close on 31 August 1999 but the board of management chairperson Father Paddy Hobin says,
September will tell the tale.
In response to the campaign, the Department of Education states there are two other schools in the area.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 July 1999. The reporter is Jim Fahy.
