Campaign victory as rat-infested school gets €180k funding

Those were the words of Elizabeth Mulvey, principal of Eglish National School in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, yesterday after the school received €180,000 in an emergency grant to upgrade the school.

The school made the headlines back in November after it was revealed that students were being taught in a crumbling, rat-infested building, that was more than a century old.

In a statement issued at the time, the parents’ association of the school highlighted a litany of problems with the school building, including rats, mice, a rotten roof, rotten floors and leaking plumbing. “There are rats on the outside and we now have mice on the inside. We have a Rentokil report stating that rodents are chewing wires. This is a fire hazard, and with the windows nailed shut it is a tragedy waiting to happen,” a statement read.

However, in the past few days, it has been confirmed that the school is to receive €180,000 from the Department of Education to revamp the school over the course of the summer.

An application for capital funding for a new school building had been with the department for over a year before the money was granted. Principal of the school Elizabeth Mulvey yesterday expressed her delight at the allocation.

“It took a lot of fighting but we got there. I would like to thank the media, parents, local TDs and councillors for all they did in helping us. Everyone is delighted with the news,” she said.

Ms Mulvey said the money would finally allow for the pupils to be taught in a safe environment.

“A health and safety report identified 17 areas of risk in the school. At least the children will be safe and now I can go back to my real job of teaching, instead of mopping floors and stuffing windows with newspapers,” she said.

The school principal said that despite the funding, the school planned to raise more money to deal with the problem of rats and to install a car park.

“We hope to fundraise more money so we can put in fences instead of ditches, where the rats are, and also to hopefully install a car park as people have to reverse out onto a main road at the moment,” she said.