School ‘nothing short of a disgrace’

IS this the worst school in Ireland?

With holes in the walls and floors, faulty plug sockets, foul smells, no central heating, damp patches and filthy conditions, teachers and pupils at Meanscoil an Leithriuigh, in Cloghane, Co Kerry, think it is.

The secondary school consists of three, dilapidated prefabs which have been there for 30 years The staff room has been turned into a classroom.

There are no science, cookery or woodwork rooms and no staff toilets. In spite of that, the school has impressive exam results but the 10 teachers, 76 students and parents say they’ve had enough.

“It’s nothing short of a disgrace. It’s back to the hedge school days. No one should be asked to work, or learn, in such awful conditions.

"At least one of the prefabs has been condemned and the whole place is a health hazard,” said parents’ spokesman Micheal O’Dowd.

A new €1.75m school was sanctioned in 1997 for a greenfield site five miles away in Castlegregory, on the northern side of the Dingle Peninsula.

The new school was supposed to be built by 2000. The project was delayed by a year, then another and another.

Now because of government cutbacks, the school, which is 27 miles from Tralee, has been put back again.

“We’ve been put on the Department of Education’s list for 2004, or onwards, and there’s no guarantee work will start next year ” Ciaran Begley.

He said they had no guarantee of being allowed stay on in the present site in Cloghane.

“This area is already losing shops and other services and if the school goes, it will be the end of the community,” said Mr Begley.

He said if the new school was built in Castlegregory, pupil numbers would increase by 25 to 30 and the future of secondary education would be assured in the area.

Cloghane is in the Kerry South constituency, for which Tourism, Arts and Sports Minister John O’Donoghue is a TD.

If your school is worse than this contact: The Irish Examiner at 021 4802102