Loyalists meet with education minister and 'advise that Irish language school in east Belfast should not proceed'
Members of the Loyalist Communities Council have met with the education minister, DUP MLA Paul Givan.
According to a statement issued by the group, the meeting was to discuss “educational underachievement in loyalist areas”, and delegates also “advised the minister that the proposal to build an Irish language school in the mainly unionist area of east Belfast should be stopped".
The LCC said the school “had no meaningful support from the local unionist and loyalist population, and no consultation had taken place with local residents”.
It also “outlined some of its pilot projects that have supported school activities in North and West Belfast”.
The LCC exists to bring together people with links to the UVF / Red Hand Commando and the UDA, and is chaired by former UUP figure David Campbell.
The Department of Education asked who else was at the meeting (besides Mr Campbell), and about how pronounced any educational gap is between different communities, and what it is doing about it.
It replied: “Paul Givan, education minister, met with the LCC to discuss a range of issues relating to education underachievement in loyalist areas and undertook to share information on DE’s RAISE programme and other relevant initiatives. The meeting was arranged at the request of the LCC.”
The school to which the LCC refers is Bunscoil na Seolta, a primary school on Montgomery Road, Castlereagh, next to a police station on a commercial estate.
The land was zoned specifically for business purposes, but this zoning was set aside by the council when it approved the school plan.
Around 60 pupils were due to start at the school this month.
In July there was a gathering at Clonduff Community Centre by people opposed to the plans, and a Facebook post from Clonduff Concerned Residents said: “The concerns of people this evening were mostly about the lack of local community need or desire for an Irish language school on the proposed site, which is meant to be preserved for business purposes that will materially benefit the local area."
Alliance education spokesman Nick Mathison MLA condemned the meeting with the LCC, saying “organisations such as this should have absolutely no place when it comes to decision-making over the education of our children", adding that “questions must be asked about the minister's judgement in this case”.