Scrapping of school repair scheme ‘a betrayal’

THE Education Minister’s abrupt discontinuation of the school summer works scheme is a serious “betrayal” of pupils, parents and boards of management, Labour claimed yesterday.

Under the annual programme, 3,500 projects were completed in schools in need of once-off repair or maintenance.

Yesterday, Labour’s education spokesman Ruairí Quinn estimated there are another 4,300 primary and secondary schools still in need of wide-scale repair.