Ruane brings her destructive agenda to Ballymena
16 March 2010
Commenting on Sinn Fein Minister Ruane’s decision to close Ballee Primary School in Ballymena, TUV Leader Jim Allister said “at a time when as part of her political agenda Ruane is looking to establish an Irish medium school in Ballymena, it is quite appalling, but utterly in keeping with her destructive agenda, that she moves with such speed to close the controlled Primary at Ballee.”
“The tactic used to reduce the numbers at Ballee was to float its closure for a couple of years, inducing a run-down in enrolment, and then when it fell low enough the Minister struck.
“This is a bad blow for an area of great socio-economic need. The Primary School was an important community focal point and could have been used to provide much needed adult education and community facilities, but, sadly, from I first met with the Board of Governors there two years ago, it was clear that figures of authority in both the NEELB and the Department were working to an agenda for closure. Today the destroyer of education, Ruane, has delivered the final blow.
“Parents in the controlled sector will rightly resent the fact that whereas on one hand she closes Ballee, she at the same time is promoting an unnecessary Irish medium school in the same town. This is the perverted Sinn Fein view of equality.”
