‘P***ed on our dreams’
"The Department seems to have p***ed on our dreams.”
That was the blunt reaction of Cllr Colm Carthy as he expressed the collective disappointment of the entire Inver College school community in Carrickmacross at being excluded from the list of 105 projects to be prioritised for 2026/27.
The fact that the news came just days after the Education Minister visited the school rubbed salt into the wounds.
“She received a tour of the school and then we had a private meeting to stress the importance of getting this across the line – only to find out it was not [included]. It made me question whether I should stay on this board. But I believe we have to put our shoulders to the wheel and be proactive on this project. The staff, many of whom are working in prefabs that had to be retrofitted to stay within regulations, were extremely disappointed."
Those were the words of Cllr Carthy, who is also a member of the school’s Board of Management, at last week’s meeting of Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB).
Cllr Carthy highlighted how an extension for Inver College had been on a list of priority projects for Cavan Monaghan prior to his joining the education board. Now Inver is the only one of those dozen or so projects still outstanding.
The extension proposed will house two new SET rooms, one textile room, one music room, one science lab and a prep area.
At a meeting of the board in March 2025, Lorraine Fealy who works at Inver College, said the school building, which was built in 1959, can have “ten buckets on the corridors” in the old section at the front of the school when it rains.
Speaking at the latest meeting, almost another year on, Cllr Carthy also referred to Coláiste Dún a Rí in Kingscourt, which didn't make the priority projects list for 26/27 either.
He observed that the new school in Kingscout was built while Inver was already in need of a permanent extension. Now, the school in Kingscourt finds itself in the same situation as Inver, in need of an extension.
Inver’s school population had doubled in the time since the need for an extension was first identified, and the excellent reputation of the school has seen it grow to such an extent that its waiting list currently exceeds the total admission policy of other schools.
Independent Cllr Brendan Fay noted that the announcements were “quite disappointing for quite a few people”; whilst also acknowledging that a lot of good projects were going ahead.
Joe McGrath, representing the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, said he was "bewildered" at Inver's omission from the list given Carrick's status as a satellite town.
"It wasn’t fit for purpose in 2009 and it’s not fit for purpose now. If you accept a prefab on your site, it’ll cost you down the road… you’ll be stuck with it for 50 years … It’s one of the reasons Inver didn’t go further.”
Director or Schools Paddy Flood commented that he “understood the level of disappointment".