Gormanston College

Gormanston College is a public, coeducational Catholic secondary school under the trusteeship of the Franciscan Province of Ireland.

The gradual relaxation of the Penal Laws saw a re-structuring of the Order in Ireland and the opening of a number of schools, notably in Clonmel and Athlone.

The ministry of education carried out in Gormanston has its immediate roots in the Seraphic College opened at Capranica 50k North of the city of Rome in 1883.

The Order had purchased the Gormanston Estate in 1947 and its proximity to Dublin made it an ideal and accessible location for a modern college.

[citation needed] In July 2006, Father Ronald Bennett, a former spiritual adviser, sports master and bursar of the college, pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of three boarders and one day pupil between 1974 and 1981.

[6] During the court hearings it emerged that the college authorities had been informed of the allegations at the time but despite promises to take action to prevent a recurrence of the abuse they had done nothing.

[8] At the Celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of the school on 23 October 2014,[9] the Minister Provincial of the Franciscans in Ireland, Fr Hugh McKenna, said during mass that the order must acknowledge the 'shameful reality' that they had failed those students abused by Ronald Bennett.

'On behalf of the Franciscan Order I want to apologise unreservedly to each and every survivor for the pain and harm inflicted on those who suffered abuse while under the care of the friars.'

[citation needed] The school takes part in sports such as GAA, soccer, rugby, tennis, badminton and sailing.

[11] Teams from the school won the Senior D Leinster (GAA) title in 2014 and the North Dublin Junior (rugby) league in 2012.