UlsterNet.co.uk

Partial court victory for Omagh school

Thursday, 12 January 2012

AN Omagh grammar school will continue its fight for a new building on its existing site - despite the Court of Appeal yesterday (Tuesday) rejecting a judgment that it had a "legitimate expectation of getting a new building".
Partly allowing an appeal brought by the Department of Education, the court said it reached that decision with regret.
Loreto Grammar School said it was promised a new build on its current site by a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister in 2004. This decision was reversed by then-Education Minister Caitriona Ruane in 2010.
However, in a partial victory for the Omagh school this week, the appeal court found that the Department's decision to categorise the plans submitted by Loreto as 'non-compliant' with its sustainability policies was "flawed". The court ruled that the decision should be quashed and the matter reconsidered.
Delivering the judgment of the Court of Appeal yesterday, Lord Justice Girvan said: "The representations and actions by the Department of Education and the Minister of Education did not give rise to a substantive legitimate expectation that a new Loreto Grammar School, financed by public funding, would be built on the existing site."
Legal costs
Loreto has been awarded all legal costs. In a statement released yesterday, the school said that it was "delighted" with the outcome of the appeal.
The statement said: "It was utter frustration that brought Loreto Grammar School to the High Court. Having embarked on the application process for a new building on its existing site in 1994, and complied with everything requested of it by the officials of the Department of Education, the application completely stalled in 2007.

“Further insult was added to that injury when headlines suggested that the school was non-compliant... at a time when the Judicial Review was ongoing. This finding has been entirely damned by the Court today when three senior judges described that finding as 'flawed'.
“The fact that the appeal judges found that the school fell short of substantive legitimate expectation is not unexpected, it is of note that the judges expressed their regret in reaching the decision; vindication comes in the fact that the costs of the school were awarded entirely against the department.
“The appeal against the decision of Mr Justice McCloskey, took six days, following the 14 days of the initial Judicial Review. The Board of Governors have at all times maintained the position that the students at the school are as deserving as all other students to a good, safe environment and up-to-date facilities within which to learn, and the present premises fall far short of that expectation.
Excellence
“While the school continues within that context to maintain its standards of excellence, it has operated for the last 20 years with many temporary classrooms, and it is imperative that they maintain firm control of the process to gain a new school building on its existing site."
The statement concluded: "The school wishes to recognise the sterling work of its legal team comprising Dr Tony McGleenan QC, and Mr Jim Montague of James McNulty & Co both of whom have supported the governors in their successful quest for fairness and justice throughout."
The Department of Education had launched the appeal after a judicial review into Ms Ruane's decision concluded in March last year that the governors of the school had a "legitimate expectation enforceable by the court" that a new building would be developed with public funding on the existing site by 2010 at the latest.
Mr Justice McCloskey, who presided over the judicial review, also concluded that the conduct, delay and inactivity of the Minister and department officials frustrated the legitimate expectation of the school and that an "unjustifiable" breach of trust had occurred.
A new-build for Loreto Grammar was part of a major expansion plan for schools across Northern Ireland announced by direct-rule minister Barry Gardiner in 2004. However, proposals were later made for a shared education campus on the site of the old Lisanelly military barracks.
In 2010, Ms Ruane, the then education minister, said she wanted Loreto Grammar to be re-built as part of this multi-school complex.

Subscribe to read full newspaper »

Send this page to a friend »