St Columbanus Hall built as a National School in the nineteenth century and prior to the building of the present Catholic Church is to be sold. Generations of children in Howth attended the school, and in later years it became a de-facto community center used by many groups. It is the central part of the living fabric and heritage of the town built and paid for by our ancestors. It belongs to the people of Howth and to the parish. It does not belong to the priests who only serve here for a few years, and definitely it does not belong to the parish committee who seem to be disconnected from the town it's history and traditions. This is a very emotive issue, Howth is under attack from over-development by greedy developers. We need to let the parish priest, the church development committee, and the Dublin Diocese know that the people in Howth do not want another historic building to be lost forever. St Columbanus Hall is in excellent condition refurbished a number of years ago it has a large site to the rear and could be rendered wheel chair accessible. The church committee intend building a bunker type building (pastoral center) to the rear of the church at an enormous cost 1.4 million to start. Across the road is a perfect old school building beloved by the locals in this town unfortunately it appears to be earmarked to go under the hammer like so much of our town, out with the old in with the new no thought given to history and tradition and maintaining this once lovely coastal town and beauty spot.