Drumaroad Hall decision raises questions
SIR – It was with very deep regret that I, as chairperson and director of Drumaroad Community Regeneration (Ltd.), formally wrote to all capital grant funders last week to withdraw all capital grant applications, totalling over £1.1m, towards building the proposed shared cross-community centre for Drumaroad which has been denied to the area by the Diocese of Down and Connor.
The great sense of frustration and loss I experienced was palpable, and indeed very emotional, as I thought of the sterling efforts of the committee stalwarts since 2001, politicans, community and voluntary organisations, local businesses and private individuals.
For the good of all communities they had put their heart and soul into trying to provide a new shared cross-community centre in Drumaroad.
The Drumaroad Hall debate has been very well documented since 2001; hence many parishioners are bewildered at the absence of a coherent reason to prevent the building of a new shared cross-community centre.
It demonstrates the complete inability of the Diocese of Down and Connor to be honest and transparent in their decision to prevent Drumaroad from availing of such centre.
The decision also prompts some very fundamental questions, most notably why Drumaroad parish should be the exception within the Diocese of Down and Connor not to have a community hall.
Why can the Diocese lease land to other cross-community groups to build cross-community projects, but not to the people of Drumaroad?
Why does the Diocese also refuse to release records and documents regarding the building of Drumaroad Hall in 1969, towards which there was funding from both America and the education authority?
The late Monsignor Joseph Maguire (Parish Priest of Drumaroad parish from 1966-1977) built Drumaroad Hall for both parochial and community use. Such inspiration should have served as his lasting legacy to the people of Drumaroad. Sadly both his vision and his legacy have been consigned to history through the Diocese of Down and Connor refusing to allow a new shared cross-community centre to replace the former Drumaroad Hall.
Such a new facility, 40 years on, without question would have acted as a catalyst for employment and the regeneration of Drumaroad in both parish and cross-community terns.
I make no apologies for demanding that the Diocese of Down and Connor should come clean and stop hiding behind the rules and cloak of Canon Law and Catholic Church structures and allow Drumaroad to have the new shared cross-community centre it deserves.
PATRICK CLARKE, chairperson and director,
Drumaroad Community Regeneration (Ltd),
51 Drumaroad Hill, Drumaroad |