Golden jubilee celebration joy for Coláiste an Phiarsaigh

WHEN the Glanmire based Irish medium secondary school opened its doors in September 1973, it was in an old Church of Ireland building in the village and they had neither chalk nor blackboard.

Now, a little more than 50 years later, as the school community gathered for a golden jubilee celebration in the Rochestown Park Hotel, the school stands on the threshold of another giant expansion with extensive new facilities being built on the site of what used to be Glanmire House.

Current príomh-oide/principal, Mícheál Ó Tuama outlined the history of the school to The Echo and spoke of the ‘extremely brave and visionary decision’ back in 1940 by a group of determined parents who were raising their children through Irish in Cork to set up a company called Gaelachas Teoranta. It bought the site of Glanmire House in the village in the 1950s and it was there in 1958 that the precursor of Coláiste an Phiarsaigh opened with Eibhlín Ní Dhrisceoil as principal.

“As things developed and with the introduction of free education in 1967, the pressure was coming on the teaching of Irish in particular and Gaelachas decided to open an Irish medium secondary school to provide it for children coming from primary schools and give them the Irish medium option,” said An tUasal Ó Tuama.

“People would say they were swimming against the tide but they continued undaunted and opened Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in September 1973 and they had no premises of their own, they had neither ‘cailc or clardubh’ (chalk or blackboard) and they didn’t even have rooms — they rented rooms in a Church of Ireland up the road.

“They named it after Pádraig Mac Piarais and Eibhlín Ní Dhrisceoil was the first príomh oide and Máire Ní Chonchúir was her deputy.”

The school grew and in 1978, on Pádraig Mac Piarais’ birthday, November 10, then Education Minister John Wilson opened its new extensive premises.

The school, which then had 240 students and twenty teachers, continued to grow and by the 1990s had added further facilities.

In 2024, the school has 560 students and 60 on its teaching staff. Last year the Education Minister, Norma Foley TD, announced a further extension to the school.

This weekend, however, it was a time to celebrate and there was a special presentation to Máire Ní Chonchúir, the school’s first deputy principal, as well as to another of the early pioneers, Siobhán Bn Uí Dhúill.

“She was a secretary and manager of Gaelachas Teoranta in 1973 and she’s still working with us,” said Mr Ó Tuama.