Disappointment for pupils forced to use outdoor toilets

THE 34 schools still waiting almost two years after a promise of a new school include Kilfinane National School, whose long campaign for a new building was highlighted in the Irish Examiner last June.

They had just been told by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe that he could not sanction the work to begin because he was reviewing all capital spending in his department, including the €586 million school building programme.

The school was last refurbished in 1909 and it appears the pupils will mark the building’s centenary still using the same outdoor toilets, after finding out yesterday that their project has not been cleared for construction to begin.

“The whole school community is very dismayed and disappointed not to be included in the latest building announcement and we’re now very concerned about the future of our new school,” said incoming principal Siobhan O’Flynn.

The school had contractors chosen and were ready to start work earlier this year and all they needed was Department of Education sanction, but they fear having to go back to tender again because of the delays.

“We’re still optimistic because we know the minister is fully aware of our dire need for a new school, not only due to the utter lack of space, but primarily because of the fact we may be one of the only schools in the country still without inside toilets,” Ms O’Flynn said.

Another disappointed school had received tender documents for a new building when the department told them last February that work could not proceed on the site provided by the local Catholic bishop.

Ennis National School principal Garry Stack warned that teachers at the school might sue for the “reckless endangerment” of staff over the condition of their school, following their omission from the building list announced by Mr O’Keeffe yesterday.

Almost half the staff work in 17 prefabs clustered around the yard of the school’s grounds, likened to a concentration camp by local Fine Gael TD Pat Breen last summer.

“The decision we have to make now is: Who do we sue for reckless endangerment over the current state of the school, will it be the minister for education?” Mr Stack said.

“We’ve had enough of the false promises, there are no words left to describe the neglect this school has experienced in the last 10 years,” he said.

“Nobody is listening to us or to the parents, so what is left for us to do?” said Mr Stack.