No firm plans yet for former Trim convent school lying idle for 15 years

Meath County Council has no firm proposals yet for the former St Mary's Convent School building in Trim which is in the process of being transferred into council ownership but intends that it will be used for a housing project.

The now derelict St Mary's Convent School has been vacant for 15 years since the school vacated the building and it was transferred some years later to the Department of Education as part of the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme. With the Department no longer having any use for the building, Meath County Council is now in the process of having the town centre property transferred into its ownership.

At the July meeting of Trim MD, Cllr Ronan Moore asked that councillors be kept informed at an early stage on the council's plans for the school and also in relation to other projects around the town so that they can have input rather than come as a "fait accompli".

Director of Services Des Foley outlined that the council has been in discussion with the Department of Education for a considerable length of time in relation to that building. "It will be a welcome development when it is transferred to the council. There are no clear proposals yet as to what use we will put the building to but housing is coming forward as a suggestion. We fully intend as soon as the legal transfer or process has been concluded, to come back and discuss it with you, the members, any or all options for the development site, whether it is for housing or a specific type of housing or indeed any proposals that you might have."

A motion was also brought forward at the meeting by Cllr Noel French asking that the council liaise immediately with the Department of Education to secure a long-term lease on the school building. He said something needs to be done with the old school, sooner rather than later and asked that anything outstanding from the council side be done as soon as possible.

The written response to Cllr French's motion confirmed that the intention would be for the site to be used for housing. It said: "The Housing Department are in discussions with the Department of Education in relation to the old St Mary’s National school on Patrick Street, Trim. The Council has expressed an interest in renovating the building for suitable housing. There is currently a legal process ongoing and when completed the Council will begin the process of preparing a suitable housing design for the building."

At one stage, the building was being considered as a permanent home for Trim Educate Together National School but it later became clear that the confined site with limited scope for expansion would not be big enough to cater for the school into the future and that the Department of Education would not have a use for it.

The derelict state of another school in the Trim MD area- the former St Fintina's Post Primary School building in Longwood- was also brought up at the meeting by Cllr Padraig Coffey.

He said the state of the school was a "disgrace" and that something needed to be done. He spoke of a recent large funeral in Longwood where he said it took six gardai to man the traffic and how the concrete yard could be put to use as a parking for the church.

Cllr French suggested that the council put a derelict site notice on the property pointing out that these notices now comes with a fine.

The site was home to St Fintina's Post Primary School until Coláiste Clavin opened in 2017. It appears that ownership issues between St Finian's Diocesan Trust and LMETB is delaying any decisions being made on the central site.