Yesteryears: Tipperary's 'Third World' schools snubbed and a break-in at a parish church

This week our Yesteryears feature traverses back two decades to our edition of February 1, 2003.
In the lead story that week Eamon Lacey wrote about the unfolding situation with regards education in south Tipperary with real concern that the area was heading towards “third world” conditions for years ahead after being snubbed in a Department of Education building programme announced at the time.

In a masterlist of primary and post-primary projects only one project in south Tipperary had been given the green light, a new primary school for Ballyporeen. Five large-scale primary school projects at the early stages of architectural planning were left out in the wilderness and there were no post primary projects at pre-planning permission stage, the report added.

The schools left abandoned by the Department were Mohober NS (Mullinahone), Powerstown NS (Clonmel), Scoil Phrionsias Naofa (Garryshane), and Upper Newtown NS (Carrick-on-Suir), while Scoil Mhuire na nAingeal (Clonmel) was left to wait for a long overdue electrical/ heating project to be finally put in place.

Yesteryears - Shock as Clonmel loses all surgical services to Waterford

In other front page news we carried a story about a raid on St Michael’s Church in Mullinahone at night with thieves taking off with a haul that included a chalice dating back to 1894. A total of four chalices and other religious objects were taken in the raid in the sacristy sometime between 1.30 am and 9 am on Monday night of that week.

We also informed our readers in that issue that soldiers from Kickham Barracks in Clonmel had been drafted in to assist in the search for two Limerick brothers abducted the previous week. A platoon from the barracks joined in the search for Kieran and Eddie Ryan, teaming up with troops from Sarsfields Barracks in Limerick, to assist gardaí.

And in another front page piecethat week, leading anti-drugs campaigner from Carrick-on-Suir, Cllr Liam Dwyer called on the Green Party to clarify its position on drugs after MEP Patricia McKenna voiced her support to a controversial campaign to decriminalise drugs.

Cllr Dwyer warned that proposals to control and sale and supply of drugs such as heroin, cannabis and ecstasy would have a more devastating effect on the population of Europe than the last world war.