A new school in Balbriggan, Ireland opened recently as an emergency measure when officials realized they had no school for local children – almost all Irish-born children of immigrants. Just north of Dublin, the Braken Educate Together National School serves the town’s wave of immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern European countries. The opening of the school led to headlines across Ireland, as the mostly black school was cited by critics as an example of racism, apartheid and that the Catholic Church was excluding children. Others cite this as a misunderstanding, and a community’s rushed decision to plan a much needed educational facility.
