Dispute school governor meets Ahern

Father Aidan Troy (left) with the Irish premier

The chairman of the north Belfast school at the centre of a sectarian dispute has met the Irish premier and Irish president on Thursday.

Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the board of governors of the Catholic Holy Cross Girls' Primary School in Ardoyne, has been involved in efforts to try to end the dispute with Protestant residents.

He met Irish President Mary McAleese at her official residence in Dublin before meeting Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking after the meeting, Fr Troy said: "The crucial issue is to get people like Taoiseach Ahern, Tony Blair and Mary McAleese to keep standing up and say this is unacceptable."

Mr Ahern said: "I urge local politicians and community representatives to re-double their efforts in the coming days to facilitate inter-community dialogue and local agreement on the way forward.

"The protest at the school should be brought to an end immediately before more damage is inflicted on the innocent victims of this dispute."

Residents from of the Glenbryn area, where the school is situated, have been protesting at the school for seven weeks because of alleged attacks by the larger Catholic community in Ardoyne.

Father Troy has suggested pupils take buses to school

The pupils have been escorted past the loyalist protesters by the security forces every day since the beginning of the school term.

The placard and whistle protest has been relatively peaceful in recent weeks, but erupted into the violence at the beginning of September.

The Northern Ireland Office, local politicians and church leaders have been involved in trying to resolve the dispute.

The latest efforts have focused on how the pupils of Holy Cross are brought to school.

Earlier this week, Father Troy suggested that the children could be brought to school by bus or car.

Bertie Ahern met Father Troy on Thursday

He put this idea to the parents at a public meeting on Tuesday evening.

Loyalist political and community representatives said they would not want Catholic parents to bring their cars up the disputed route along the Ardoyne Road.

But last week the Concerned Residents of Upper Ardoyne group said the protests would be called off if the Holy Cross pupils were taken to school on buses provided by the local education authority.

The residents have also asked for increased security to protect the buses on which Protestant secondary school children travel home through north Belfast.

A number of pupils have been injured in stone-throwing attacks in recent weeks.

The attacks have been on buses carrying pupils from the Girls' and Boys' Model secondary schools.