Two students may face charges for school fires

TWO students at Dingle CBS, who were questioned by gardaí over recent arson attacks on the school, have been released without being charged.

However, a file is being prepared for the DPP and charges may follow.

Gardaí yesterday said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incidents.

Work, meanwhile, is continuing on repairing damage to the school, which, according to school principal Pádraig Feirtéar, could cost in the region of €1 million.

School activities have been seriously disrupted but business will resume as normal on Monday, following the mid-term break, he said.

Some classes have been accommodated in other buildings around Dingle since the fire.

In the first fire on New Year’s Day, six classrooms and the administration area, which were in a 132-year-old section of the school, were destroyed as were many irreplaceable items, including records and historic photographs that had hung on the walls for generations.

The second fire, in a pre-fab used by the principal, took place late last Friday night.

Fingerprints were taken from up to 250 students in the school, as part of the investigation, during which the co-operation of parents was crucial, according to gardaí.