Upset over plan to knock Virginia College

A row has broken out in Virginia over plans to demolish the original college, built by the toil of nine farming families who mortgaged their holdings to deliver the secondary school for the community in the early 1960s.

Cavan County Council has granted planning permission to Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board for a new school development at the showgrounds site. But the planning file reveals the strong wishes of the Virginia Show Society and descendants of the founding families to retain the original college and incorporate it into new development plans.

Many of the more than half dozen submissions received by council planners highlighted how, in a first-of-a-kind move, local farmers allowed the deeds of their farms and homes to be held as guarantees for a £20,000 loan.

The school was later handed over to the Department of Education and Cavan VEC “so that future generations of their community could receive post-primary education”.

The same families contend that, in negotiations over the transfer of lands from the Virginia Agricultural Show Society to Cavan VEC, signed in 2013, the latter agreed to retain the building, with a “preservation order” proposed and seconded by the board.

Since its foundation in 1962, the Virginia school has been extended three times. The first was a GP Hall extension in 1988; the second in 2006; and a third time in 2012.

However, under the now approved plans, the old school will make way for part of the new extension.

Current enrolment is over 800 students, with a capacity for 1,000 pupils and 85 staff once the project is completed.

The larger three-storey extension to the east will run to over 4,500 square metres and connect to the existing 2006 school extension. It will incorporate the Special Educational Needs base on the ground floor with 11 new classrooms and specialist classrooms on the first and second floors.

The second smaller extension to the south (82 sq m) extends from the 1988 extension and will contain the General Purpose hall and ancillary spaces.

The demolition of existing 1960 school building (1793 sq m) meanwhile will make way for two new ball courts, 24 bicycle stands and other associated site works.

The plans also allow for additional and relocated parking spaces for both buses and cars to the north of the school.

While “fully supportive” of the proposed extension to the local school, Virginia Show Society feels strongly that the original school should be “renovated and incorporated as a usable facility” within the wider school campus.

“We believe that the original 1962 building is an important symbol of the educational and social history of the town of Virginia and its link with the Agricultural Show Society,” said the society in its submission.

It views the proposed demolition of the original building as “unnecessary” and says it would result in “a loss of social and built heritage that tells the story of the evolution and development of Virginia College”.

The society insists the agreed preservation order was “unanimously” supported by the then VEC, later CMETB.

Maria O’Reilly, in her submission, believes the “legacy” behind the building of the school “deserves to be remembered”.

John O’Reilly shared the sentiment. He said the “original school has planted the seed from which the present Virginia College has grown today” and asked: “Can a community’s heritage and history not be part of progress?”

Paddy McNamee, son of the first secretary of Virginia Show Society (1942-1946) and parent of four past pupils, told planners that he has a “special affinity” to the older building.

“The social fabric of the old school spreads far and wide and should be maintained as an inspiration for future generations.”

Owen Morgan considered that to demolish the old school building would be an “insult” to his parents and others, and a “retrograde step”.

Inland Fisheries Ireland, in its submission, highlighted how discharges from Virginia have been “identified as one of the pressures” putting Lough Ramor “at risk” in terms of meeting environmental objectives required by the Water Framework Directive.

Given the level of local objection, it’s likely the decision to grant permission will be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

CMETB has been contacted for comment. Further update next week.