Gormanston College

Gormanston College

Gormanston College is a private, fee-paying, coeducational Catholic secondary school under the trusteeship of the Franciscan Province of Ireland. The College is located at Gormanston Castle (built 1786), near Gormanston, County Meath, about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Dublin, Ireland.

The student body numbers around 600 and enjoys a strong international flavour. There is a mix of boarding and day boarding (day boarding is co-educational).

The College ethos strives to be fair and firm in an atmosphere where students are directed towards the values of mutual respect, social awareness and reverence for Gospel values. The College Motto is Dei Gloriae, Hiberniae Honori which translates To the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.

Foundation

In 1947 the Franciscan Order purchased the ancestral home of the Hiberno-Norman Preston family, Gormanston Castle, from Pamela O Connor, whose husband had been the sixteenth Viscount Gormanston from 1925 until his death in 1940,^[1] partially to establish a quality secondary college with a more Irish and nationalist ethos than other boarding schools in the Pale area; the most obvious manifestation of this emphasis was the establishment of Gaelic Football as the main sporting activity evcouraged by the college.^{[citation needed]} The first boarding students were received in 1954 and the new college was opened in 1957.^[2] The first students graduated from the College in 1957, a number of whom returned to become rectors at the College, Pat McSweeney OFM, Bob Doyle OFM, Paddy Timothy OFM.

Prior to the establishment of the school, Gormanston Castle and demesne had been in the possession of the Preston family who have been Viscounts Gormanston since the fourteenth century.

Sport

A nine-hole golf course surrounds the castle, and many other sports are practiced. Due to the varied range of sporting activities available and encouraged, the college does not excel in any one discipline, nonetheless many fine sportsmen have established themselves in the various activities.

Other functions

During the school holidays the college plays host to various activities, including the Irish beekeepers' summer school.^[3]

Distinguished past pupils

• Charlie McCreevy, Fianna Fáil Politician and E.U. Commissioner (2007)
• Colin Farrell, actor.
• Jim Fitzpatrick, Artist.

College grounds

The college consists mainly of a modern building, built in a manner after the Festival of Britain, and is attached to the residential castle. The grounds, straddling County Meath and County Dublin, contain a river, a mature wood and a small 9-hole golf course. The main approach avenue scrolls through a wood of selected trees. There are several playing fields, in two different locations but contiguous with the college. The college and grounds are located between the Dublin - Belfast motorway and the old main Dublin - Drogheda road. The eastern face of Gormanston Castle looks to the sea, down a long straight field, known as "Cromwells Avenue". One of the most remarkable features of the estate is the yew walk, a foliage enclosed triangular area that dates back some hundreds of years, and leads down to the graveyard, where several of the Order, both priests and nuns, as well as some students, are buried. The old coach road from Dublin to Belfast runs alongside the eastern college boundary walls.

Sex abuse scandal

See also: Ronald Bennett

In July 2006 Father Ronald Bennett, a former spiritual adviser, sports master and bursar of the college, pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of three boarders and one day pupil between 1974 and 1981.^[4] He was initially given to a five-year suspended sentence.^[5] On appeal the sentence was increased to 2½ years imprisonment and 2½ years suspended.^[6]

During the court hearings it emerged that the college authorities had been informed of the allegations at the time but despite promises to take action to prevent a recurrence of the abuse they had done nothing.^[7] This was confirmed by former pupil Dr. Richard Lanigan in a letter to the Irish Independent in March 2007.^[8]

See also

• Education in Ireland

References

1. ^ http://www.franciscans.ie/content/view/26/73/
2. ^ http://www.gormanstoncollege.ie/Franciscan_Community.html
3. ^ Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations Website (accessed 2008-07-06)
4. ^ "Priest Admits 1970s Abuse at Gormanston", Irish Independent, 5 July 2006. (accessed 2008-07-07)
5. ^ "Priest gets suspended term for child abuse", RTÉ News, 26 July 2006. (accessed 2008-07-07)
6. ^ "Court increases priest's prison sentence", RTÉ News, 5 March 2007. (accessed 2008-07-07)
7. ^ "Management aware of abuse but did not remove priest", Irish Times, 5 July 1976. (accessed 2008-07-07)
8. ^ "Dignity of a sex predator", Irish Independent, 14 March 2007. (accessed 2008-07-07)

External links

• Gormanston College
• Franciscan Province of Ireland
• "Elderly priest pleads guilty to abuse", RTÉ News, 28 June 2006. (accessed 2008-07-07)