Greendale Community School

This article is about the former community school in Ireland. For the fictional Greendale Community College, see Community (TV series).

Greendale Community School was a community school, a form of State-sponsored secondary school, in the Northside suburb of Kilbarrack, Dublin, Ireland, located near the boundary with Raheny.

Location

Greendale was situated on c. 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) of land, near Kilbarrack DART suburban rail station and Greendale Shopping Centre, and its grounds included a basketball court once used by Killester Basketball club and later by KUBS Basket Ball Club.^[1]

History

Construction

Greendale was built in the mid-1970s, opening in 1975, with capacity for not less than 800 pupils. The school quickly exceeded its numbers, and extension work in the early 1980s allowed for up to 900 students. By 1996, however, core pupil numbers were down to 449, then 215 at the start of the 2003–2004 school year, and 160 in 2006. In addition to the day pupils, Greendale had long offered a range of night courses and adult education initiatives, facilitating up to 1,400 students at a time.

Closure

According to the Minister for Education, the trustees of Greendale made a decision in March 2004 to close the school to new entrants in September 2004, and to close altogether in June 2007. The property would then revert to the Department of Education. A major reunion of past pupils and teachers, covered by the press and national TV, was held in mid-February 2007.^{[citation needed]}

There was some controversy about the closure,^{[citation needed]} for reasons including the pending arrival of more than 2,500 homes within 2 miles (3.2 km) of Kilbarrack (many in Balgriffin and Baldoyle), the school's widely recognised work in education in a challenging environment, and the non-closure of what some saw as less-progressive, non co-educational schools nearby.^{[citation needed]}

As of April 2007, it was announced that the school premises would continue to be used for educational purposes.

Staff

Former teachers at the school include playwright and film director Paul Mercier,^[2] Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, and Catherine Dunne, and former Dublin Football midfielder Brian Mullins. Artistic director of the Passion Machine Theatre Company Paul Mercier later stated that "Things are changing at a furious pace. But in reality things are disappearing in society that were working. And Greendale was working."^[3]

The principal of the school from opening to closure was Anton Carroll.

Sexual abuse

In 2020, former vice-principal and teacher Patrick Potts died several days prior to a court appearance on charges of sexual abuse of students at Greendale;^[4] the charges date to his tenure at the school in the early 1980s.^[5] Alumni who had accused Potts have expressed frustration over losing the opportunity to settle the allegations via a court proceeding.^[6]

References

1. "KUBS Basketball Club". kubs.ie. Archived from the original on 16 January 2015.
2. "Dail Eireann Debates 23rd March 2006".
3. "RTÉ Television – Léargas". www.rte.ie. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
4. "Abuse allegations against ex-principal of Gonzaga 'Deeply disturbing'". www.irishtimes.com.
5. "I feel cheated, says Francis Nesbitt as ex-Gonzaga head Patrick Potts dies before sex abuse trial". www.thetimes.co.uk.
6. "Abuse allegations against ex-principal of Gonzaga 'Deeply disturbing'". www.irishtimes.com.

• Holden, Louise; "Greendale – death of a school", The Irish Times, 18 October 2005, Dublin
• The Northside People, Week #1, May 2007, Dublin
• Seanad Éireann ("Senate of Ireland"), Records of the House, Volume 181, 17 November 2005, sections 1575–1578, Dublin