By Diarmuid Sherry
Sinn Fein TD, Sorca Clarke has criticised the government’s lack of planning in what she called Westmeath’s “secondary school enrolment crisis,” despite Fianna Fail’s Robert Troy TD saying that current investment in local schools will “ease pressure” on families. Deputy Clarke’s criticism comes following a recent report by The Irish Times, which published a school capacity survey which found that every school in Mullingar or the east Westmeath area, apart from one, was oversubscribed.
The only secondary school that wasn’t oversubscribed was St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Rochfortbridge, which was categorised as ‘fully subscribed.’ It was also found that three quarters of parents were unable to secure places at oversubscribed secondary schools.
