Current reports and comment on education, politics, religion and social issues
EDUCATION
Could this £23m grammar be the last new-build school for decades?
Pupils at Bangor Grammar are celebrating the opening of a stunning new school building after a 12-year battle for funding.
And given the shrinking school population and tight education budgets, it could be the last newly-built school in Northern Ireland for a very long time.
The school’s 870 boys are now housed in a £23m building sitting on a 24-acre site on the Gransha Road — almost five times the size of their 118-year-old former premises at College Avenue.
Read more:
Campaign to set up Educate Together secondary schools in Dublin
New ET secondary schools are planned for Blanchardstown and Lucan – but parents say there’s a demand in the city itself.
http://www.thejournal.ie/educate-together-school-dublin-city-763050-Jan2013/
POLITICS
We must see bigger picture during unrest
Newsletter – by Graham Spencer is a Reader in Politics, Conflict and the Media at the University of Portsmouth and has written widely on loyalism. He writes – Amongst all the noise and rhetoric about the flag protests and riots, the most important and insightful response came from east Belfast UDA leader Jimmy Birch.
In a BBC Radio Ulster news special called ‘Inside the Flag Protests’, Birch commented: “Every time they [Sinn Fein] call a tune, we take to the streets. We are wrecking our own areas, we fight with the police, we are burning our own cars and we stop our own people going to work and disrupt our own people’s way of life. It is wrong, we need to step back and we need to stop being predictable.”
To address the problem of loyalist detachment from the peace process Birch stressed that loyalists must develop politically as well as realise that education is the way forward.
One might think that the Unionist Forum could be helpful on this score but some scepticism is required. Set up as a mechanism to address eight key areas of concern which include dealing with ‘deprivation and educational underachievement in the unionist community’ as well as ‘broader political economic matters’, the forum appears to have recognised the need to deal with the issues which Birch identifies.
More at:
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/community/your-view/we-must-see-bigger-picture-during-unrest-1-4703288
RELIGION
Redemptorist priest threatened with excommunication
Irish Times – In a Comment article Fr Tony Flannery states why he believes the Vatican wishes to silence him and failing that to excommunicate him
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2013/0121/1224329102657.html
Examiner – The Redemptorists have defended Fr Tony Flannery
Belfast Telegraph – Overview of the situation
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/cleric-fears-excommunication-threat-16263657.html
RTE News Now
/news/2013/0120/priest-decries-excommunication-threat-over-views.html
SOCIETY
Samaritans’ SMS service reveals high levels of self-harm
The Dublin Samaritans service says one-in-three texts received in 2012 mentioned self-harm, a higher rate than calls or email.
http://www.thejournal.ie/samaritans-dublin-annual-report-self-harm-763193-Jan2013/