BROOKFIELD College has ceased operating with immediate effect, citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for its closure.
Students and their families received an email today from Elisha Dowling, Principal and owner of the college, which operated out of Liber House in Monavalley.
It stated: “It is with deep regret that I must inform you that as of Thursday 27th August 2020 Brookfield College has ceased trading. The company has suffered a significant loss as a result of the Covid crisis.
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We have also had very few new enrolments for the upcoming year and consequently the business is no longer viable and has been placed in liquidation. I appreciate how difficult this is for you all.
With regards to fees paid you are now listed as a creditor of the company and the liquidators, JPA Brenson Lawlor will contact you in relation to this matter.”
As well as the impact on the employees at the College, there has been considerable anger expressed locally at the timing of the closure, with some parents having already paid fees in advance and students now being left with nowhere to go as school starts again.
Local Sinn Féin Cllrs Cathal Foley and Deirde Ferris issued a joint statement on the news of the closure stating; “This is devastating news this evening, both for staff, students and their families. It has been a stressful enough time due to the Covid-19 crisis and now to have found that they have no place at school or jobs to go to next week is a particularly cruel turn of events.”
“I have contacted Deputy Pa Daly who has in turn contacted Minister for Education Norma Foley, to ensure students can be accommodated elsewhere as soon as possible. These are leaving cert students who have been left out on a limb just as they were about to enter the most important period of their educational lives.”
Brookfield College was established in 1988 in Rock Street, originally offering grinds and revision courses to second level students. In 1993, they took in students on a full time basis for repeat Leaving Cert students and later fifth and sixth years from all over the county. The College moved to Liber House in Monavalley in 2014.