For months in 2001, locals at Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast stood outside the school as girls and parents walked inIrish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern talks with Father Aidan Troy, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Holy Cross Primary School, Ardoyne, Northern Ireland, at Government buildings in Dublin (Chris Bacon/PA)The protest began following a clash in June 2001 as a man collected his child. Efforts to resolve the issue over the summer break failed, and the protests resumed in the autumn. Fr Troy, parish priest of Ardoyne and chair of the board of governors of the Holy Cross school, said that there were around 20 people on both sides of the road in the morning, and 60-70 people on each side in the afternoon. Of the 220 pupils at the school, 35 were stressed and receiving counselling and medication, and 10 had been transferred to other schools. Mr Ahern said that the root causes of the protests were a “symptom of a deeper malaise within Northern Ireland”.

Source: The Herald December 29, 2023 06:05 UTC