Parents and pupils remain in the dark over transport options to Catholic girls school based in a loyalist area

PARENTS and pupils on Tuesday night still did not know whether there will be a bus service to a Catholic girls school sited in a loyalist area of north Belfast. The staggered return of students to the Catholic maintained Mercy College in Ballysillan begins today. 

      Mercy College Catholic Secondary             School in Ballysillan, north Belfast.                         Picture Mal McCann. 

But a free bus service previous funded by a local charity, The Flax Trust, will no longer be available to the pupils, many of them from neighbouring Ardoyne. If you cast your mind back (not very long ago) to 2001 when Holy Cross Primary School was top of the news (worldwide) as loyalists attacked primary school children running the gauntlet every morning (their sin) to attend a Catholic girls school which just happened to be in a loyalist area. 

     Police officers in riot gear protecting          schoolgirls and their families past              protesters in 2001. GETTY IMAGE/                             Adrian Dennis 

When questioned about whether there had been any progress in relation to providing a new service to the pupils, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said: "Currently there is no additional information available." Similarly, the Education Authority (EA) said it had no further information. Under EA rules, free public transport is normally provided only to students living three miles or more from a school. 

The Flax Trust has funded a free service for the last five years but said it could no longer afford to do so and that all parties knew from the middle of last year that it would no longer be available. There is no direct public transport option between Ardoyne and the school. Many of the pupils may have to walk across an interface and through a loyalist area, raising concerns for their safety, particularly as the evenings darken. 

      HOLY CROSS: The daily school run               became 'running the gauntlet' twice              a day leaving the children into                   school and collecting them from            school became a traumatic experience             for the children. PACEMAKER

SDLP councillor Paul McCusker said last week: "This is an issue of safety for kids travelling to school and it is unthinkable that the Education Authority, Minister Michelle Mcilveen and Translink would allow the situation to remain unresolved.

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"Currently there is no additional information available"  CCMS 

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    HOLY CROSS: A large police presence            had to separate loyalists from                  primary school children. Fireworks            and stones were thrown and at one            time a blast bomb was thrown into            the crowd by loyalists which killed a                         police dog in 2001.

In a letter to parents, Principal Martin Morland had said that it was "with regret that I must inform you that there will no longer be free private transport for students to and from Mercy College". 

"I am both disappointed and frustrated that, despite our best efforts, there has been no resolution to this," he wrote. 

Marie Fusco, administrative manager with the Flax Trust (a section of the Catholic Church), said the trust delivered funding totalling £635,985 over five years, longer than the original pledge of three years. 

She said the school and the CCMS  "were told exactly" from at least the middle of last year funding would no longer be available. 

"There is not a limitless pot of money," she added. 

With many thanks to: The Irish News and John Breslin for the original story. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: Parents, students, remain in dark over transport options to Catholic school sited in loyalist area

Holy Cross: Remembering a school run like no other