Former Irish president encourages Leitrim students to be peacemakers of tomorrow during visit

Former President Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin McAleese, visited Scoil Mhuire in Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday, where she urged students to become the peacemakers of tomorrow during a school assembly.

During the trip, Ms McAleese and her husband, who live close by in Roscommon, met with students and addressed an assembly, before attending a concert from the school choir in St Catherine’s hall.

It was her first time in the school, which started when the local boys' and girls' primary school in the town joined in 2013, and is spread across two buildings less than 500 metres away from one another.

“It was wonderful to see it amalgamated because I have a very strong passion for schools that grow kids in what I call a completely happy unisex environment,” she told the Observer.

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“Girls and boys working happily together… I have never liked the split system. It was historic, it was the way in the past, but it's not the way of the future.”

Speaking about the benefits of a mixed school experience for young people, Ms McAleese highlighted its importance for young boys in the world of social media.

“Particularly when we know so much now about toxic masculinity and when it's now a thing that is being pushed with an agenda by toxic masculine people. I think it's unhealthy for young boys to grow up in places where that can fester.”

On arriving at the school, Ms McAleese was greeted by students holding flags from the 38 countries that are represented in the school.

“You know, when I grew up, everybody in the school was Catholic. Nine of the kids in my class were called Mary. So, you look at the names now in the classroom, and they write a different story about Ireland.”

“We're a people who are literate, who love poetry, who love stories, who have a phenomenal heritage and to think that we're now going to draw from wells of experience that come from all around the world, that are going to flood the Irish well with really different kinds of poetry, different kinds of music. The explosion of talent in this country is going to be phenomenal,” she said.

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“38 different countries of hugely different experiences. Some of them [are] here because those countries are experiencing terrible times. We, in our turn, we know a thing or two about having to uproot from your home through terrible times.”

“I'm not just talking about the famine, and I'm not just talking about the years of poverty. I mean, Martin and I both uprooted from our homes in Belfast because of terrible, violent conflict. So we know what it's like.”

Ms McAleese, who grew up in Belfast, was the president of Ireland during the Good Friday Agreement and for a large part of the peace process, and has been a leading voice for peace throughout her career.

“What you want is to be in a place where you're welcomed and loved and nurtured and safe and feel safe and Carrick is that. Carrick has really embraced that.”

Scoil Mhuire has led a sustained campaign for a new school building since the school’s amalgamation over a decade ago.

A technical examination was carried out on the current campus by the Department of Education in 2021, which found a number of health and safety issues, including background ventilation, roof leaks, mould growth, and a possibly rotting suspended timber floor.

Since the report, a number of repairs have been carried out in the school, but campaigners feel that the building is still not suitable for their needs and want the government to fund a new building.

The report also concluded that a new building was needed to accommodate the 475 pupils who were enrolled at the time of the report in 2021, a number which was predicted to rise by over 20% over the next five years. 

The pupil growth was accelerated by the influx of students who have come as refugees from countries like Ukraine in the last two years.

The campaign saw national attention last year, with the issue being raised in the Seanad by Nessa Cosgrove and campaigners meeting with members of the Department of Education.