Mags GarganA Dublin and a Limerick parish have forged a link that is set to benefit their young people, writes Mags Gargan
Last November, the parish priest of Moyross in Limerick, one of the parishes with the greatest concentrations of poverty in the country, made a national appeal for churches to sell unused gold objects to fund a teacher in the parish primary school.
The parish has been forced into employing a teacher privately because the Department of Education had removed funding for a teaching position, leaving Corpus Christi Primary School with the prospect of merging two junior infant classes into a single group of 32.
Fr Tony O Riordan SJ says the parish felt that accepting this decision was “just widening the gap been children that have and children that have not” and they didn’t want “these children to suffer education disadvantage if we can help it”.
The appeal made news headlines and when two parishioners in Dalkey parish in Dublin, Eimear and Pat Torpey, heard the story on the radio they were spurred to write “a strongly-worded letter” to their parish pastoral council to suggest they should answer the appeal.
“The council discussed it and we felt the Holy Spirit was at work, and we should respond to that,” says Jacqueline Nelson, chair of the pastoral council.
The council decided to fundraise and to hold a church gate collection for the Moyross appeal. That weekend Fr Tony and the school principal, Tiernan O’Neill, came to Dalkey to speak at all the Masses, and invited members of the council to visit Moyross.
“Seven of us travelled down and we were overwhelmed with admiration for thework being done in the parish and in the school,” says Jacqueline. “The school has the most imaginative programme to try to create a more equal playing pitch for those kids. They have a woodwork programme specifically for boat building, a mindfulness programme to relax the children and focus them on schoolwork and a cookery programme where the children can cook treats as a reward for good behaviour during the week. They go above and beyond the normal curriculum and it must be so beneficial.”
One of the Dalkey pastoral council members to visit Moyross was Pat Keogh, manager of Leopardstown Racecourse. “What Tiernan and Fr Tony are doing is quite incredible. There are very few amenities in the area and the parish does a sterling job. We were delighted that we had got involved and were able to help in some small way,” Pat says.
“When we were in Moyross the love that the children have for horses was very apparent, that really came through and I asked Fr Tony would they like to come to the Leopardstown family day where they could see beautifully-bred horses and meet people from the industry to get advice,” Pat says.
Moyross suffers high levels of socio-economic disadvantage with high unemployment and only a relatively small percentage of the population has advanced to further/higher education. Many young people in the community have a passion for horses, and some have managed to make it into a career by going through the RACE (Racing Academy & Centre of Education) programme in the Curragh.
Opportunity
“Limerick City Council see urban hoses as a problem, but it is also an opportunity to tap into a positive interest,” says Fr Tony. “Every year they spends thousands impounding and controlling horses but you can’t legislate it out of existence, it is too ingrained in the culture in Limerick and the horse industry has a need for talented and hard-working youngsters, so the link is an easy one to make.”
He says the young people loved the visit to Leopardstown and they really “rose to the occasion” and “engaged confidently with the jockeys, trainers and horse owners and felt at home”.
“Very enthusiastic people from the industry were generous with their time,” Pat says. “I was extremely impressed with the children – their concentration levels and how interested they were. We would be delighted to repeat the exercise and I would be disappointed if the young people weren’t able to make it into an employment opportunity.”
Lee Quinn (16) was one of the young people to visit Leopardstown with the parish and this week he applied to the apprenticeship with the Curragh.
“I would like to be a jockey,” Lee says. “I like spending time with horses and it keeps me out of trouble. I like feeding and brushing them, and walking them. It’s hard work but it’s worth it.”
Lee met leading trainer Jim Bolger at Leopardstown, who told him if his application was good enough he would give him a reference. If his application to the jockey academy is accepted Lee will get a trial and if successful a work placement in a yard and eventually a licence to be a jockey, and hopefully a successful career thanks to the support and encouragement of both parishes.
Jacqueline says that Dalkey parish would like to keep the connection with Moyross. “We are also trying a scheme that’s in the very early stages, where any young people in Dalkey studying social science could organise a summer placement in Moyross.
“It would be a reciprocal relationship where our young people would learn what life is like in Moyross and the kids there find out what life is like outside of Moyross.”
“The link between ourselves and Dalkey is valued at both ends,” Fr Tony says. “What started as an appeal to fund a teacher has moved on to an exchange of perspectives. We have a lot more in common than you may think and face many of the same challenges with parenting and family, but in a different way.”