Children withdrawn from rat-infested school

MORE THAN 100 children were yesterday withdrawn from a Donegal school by their parents concerned about rat infestation and disease.

The protest meant classrooms at Gortahork National School near Letterkenny were almost empty after midday, except for staff.

Parents’ spokesperson Vincent Collum said they did not want to take their children out of school but the move was a last resort because of the unacceptable conditions.

“It reminds me of television pictures of something from the Third World. There are poison boxes for rodents in the playground and also in the main hall where the children eat their lunch, and the smell of urine is unbelievable,” he said.

“We are meant to be in a prosperous country; our children are our future and we have to get things right for them. We are not going to tolerate this any more,” said Mr Collum.

Rats have been in the schoolyard in recent weeks, as a result of rising tides from a nearby estuary which carries untreated sewage.

A Department of Education spokesperson said the question of rat infestation at the school was a matter for school management to deal with from their grant for minor repairs, which was less than 5,200 last year. A report on a recent department inspection of the 119-pupil school will be used to determine if a new school building should be provided.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) says the school is already in bad enough disrepair with damp rooms, rotten windows and subsiding floors, without having to use funding to get rid of rats.

“Education Minister Noel Dempsey must move to improve conditions at schools like this as a matter of urgency. The case in Gortahork just shows the extent of the crisis in primary buildings,” said INTO general secretary John Carr.

Labour education spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan wants Mr Dempsey to immediately address the dire conditions facing staff and pupils at the school.

“I fully support the decision of parents. Despite having to suffer sewage in the yard and rats, Gortahork NS does not even feature on the department list for improvements on school buildings,” she said.