Picture postcard school ‘lied to’ by Government

WITH Mount Brandon in the background to the west and the famous Blennerville windmill behind it on the Tralee side, St Brendan’s National School looks like a postcard picture.

But step inside the door of the 76-year-old building, two miles outside Tralee on the Dingle road, and the image is more like something from a Dickens novel or — closer to home — Angela’s Ashes.

Michael O’Connor started teaching here in 1975 when 72 pupils were housed in four tiny classrooms. But three decades on, he is principal of the school, with 157 children and eight teachers.