IRELAND
Irish Times
Thu, Dec 17, 2015
Joe Humphreys
A trust controlling the only Catholic school to be divested to a non-denominational patron insisted on getting “fair” economic value for the arrangement, correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act shows.
The Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), an entity chaired by Mr Justice Peter Kelly that controls the property interests of the Christian Brothers, refused to surrender a vacant school premises to the Department of Education to promote diversity of patronage until it had secured financial concessions, the documents reveal.
They also show that Mr Justice Kelly clashed with the department over his non-attendance at a meeting between it and the ERST board in February 2013 to discuss the planned divestment.
The department had then sought to obtain the building at Basin Lane, Dublin, for a nominal rent under a 24-year lease to “provide for a level of security of tenure” for the new patrons Educate Together.
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