Children locked out of community space at Corpus Christi Hall

A petition signed by 500 Uplift members calling on Corpus Christi Parish Hall to be re-opened for use for Corpus Christi School was delivered to politicians earlier this month.

The petition set up by Friends of Corpus Christi Hall calls on Minister Norma Foley to intervene with the Archbishop of Dublin due to the lack of access by pupils of the local school to Corpus Christi parish hall on Home Farm Road in Drumcondra.

The hall, used since the 1970s for PE and other educational activities, was closed by church authorities in 2020.

The petition was delivered to the Department of Education where campaigners met Minister Foley’s secretary who accepted the petition on the Minister’s behalf.

The campaigners, many of them parents of children in the school, were joined by politicians across parties for the delivery of the petition.

Uplift petition starter and local parent Angela Shafer says;

“Access to Corpus Christi Parish Hall plays a vital role in the quality of school life for Corpus Christi pupils.

“Our campaign will continue for as long as the Hall remains closed to the school and wider community.

“The Hall facilitates PE activities, school assemblies and school celebrations. As patron and therefore a stakeholder in the school, it is absolutely egregious that the Church continues to deny Corpus Christi GNS  access to the Hall with no commitment to re-opening it.”

As the one year anniversary looms since they first protested outside of the Archbishop’s palace to highlight the ongoing closure of the Hall looms, campaigners said they plan to keep the pressure on the Church to engage in dialogue.

People can add their support to the campaign for access to the Corpus Christi parish hall by signing the petition on Uplift here: https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/corpus-christi-parish-hall-for-corpus-christi-school.