'Quitting has crossed my mind' - principal on £700k school pitch row

The principal of a Londonderry school at the centre of a row over funding for a football pitch has said he has considered quitting.

Michael Allen, of Lisneal College, said it had been an exhausting and difficult time after it emerged the school was allocated £710,000 to upgrade its football pitch.

The Belfast Telegraph reported the funding along with details of a meeting the school held with Education Minister Paul Givan and colleagues of his from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Mr Allen rejected any inference that because the school predominantly serves the Protestant community that he "somehow would have a huge amount of influence on DUP policy or ministers".

"It's wrong and it's unfair," he told the Nolan Show.

He added that he had done nothing wrong.

"My job is to advocate for students of Lisneal College," he said.

BBC News NI understands that Mr Allen is now considering whether to accept a post as Education Advisor for the Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh.

The post is a secondment to the Department of Education (DE) for three years and was publicly advertised in October 2024.

The Strule Campus is the biggest school building project ever planned in Northern Ireland but has faced a number of delays.

BBC News NI understands that, following an interview process in February, Mr Allen has been offered the post as Education Advisor but has yet to decide whether to accept the job.

In a statement the DE said that the appointment will be made by the Strule Programme Director, and "the Education Minister has had no involvement in the process."

"The process to appoint a successful candidate has not yet been finalised," they continued.

The Belfast Telegraph first reported that the school received funding for a new pitch after the meeting with Givan and others from the DUP, despite not making a direct application for the money.

It has further reported on examples of other schools in the city which did not receive money for required maintenance.

The Education Authority (EA) later said that the project had been planned for several years and followed "normal minor capital works procedures".

During a fractious meeting of Stormont's education committee last week, Sinn Féin assembly member Pat Sheehan said he was not criticising the school but told Givan the pitch "seems to be a pet project for your party and it's beginning to smack of cronyism".

Givan rejected the claims and said he "didn't bring any influence to bear" on the pitch upgrade and that the funding decision was made by the EA.

Speaking to the Nolan Show, Mr Allen said he had been engaged in a formal process with the Education Authority for a new pitch since 2018.

He said there had been an initial assessment by the EA, which led to an internal report on what facilities needed to be replaced. He was then informed last September that the replacement pitch had been approved, which to his knowledge was done with no input from the DUP.

Mr Allen says he would have filled out an application if he had been told he needed to.

He said that other schools in the area had also received "significant investment", although he declined to name them.

The Nolan Show reported that St Joseph's Boys School in Derry, a Catholic maintained school, got £587,000 to upgrade its shale pitch to a 4G one.

He also mentioned that the pitch would not only be used by the children in the school, but the wider community, which is predominantly nationalist.

Mr Allen said the meeting with the education minister and his DUP colleague Gordon Lyons was the first time they had met and he did not think it went "particularly well".

He explained that the pitch "was only part of the conversation" and many other aspects of the school were discussed.

During the meeting, Mr Allen expressed his ambition to build an indoor dome on the grass pitch.

He said that he wanted to talk to Givan and Lyons about the possibility of linking it with other community programmes.

"It was not to ask them for the funding for that, I want to be absolutely clear on that," he told the Nolan Show.

Mr Allen added that he did not feel the ministers shared his vision and he came out of the meeting thinking it was a "waste of time".

Mr Allen said the saga has taken a toll on him, with his "own personal integrity" being "challenged".

He added that the week since the story emerged had been "very isolating".

"I'm exhausted, I haven't slept roughly in a week and it's been a very difficult time," he said.

"I'm almost made to feel guilty for wanting the best for my pupils.

"It's been an eye opener for me in terms of the nasty, nasty game that is politics and we feel like collateral damage."

At one point during the interview, Mr Allen became emotional when describing how some social media comments have referred to "brown envelopes" and stereotypes about the school's mostly Protestant student base.

You can hear more on this story by listening to the Nolan Show on BBC Sounds or by watching Nolan Live on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22:40 GMT on Wednesday night.