Pupils to get counselling after stabbing

CHILDREN at a rural primary school are to get counselling after witnessing a violent incident in which two women were stabbed in the schoolyard on Thursday.

The row left parents, teachers and pupils traumatised as the two Traveller women lashed out at each other, with both receiving stab wounds.

The row at Creagh National School in Ballinasloe broke out when women from two feuding Traveller families were dropping children at the school.

Words were exchanged between the pair and they started grappling and an unidentified weapon was produced with which both women were stabbed.

Children were rushed inside as the screaming and fighting intensified.

Gardaí were called to the scene and managed to break up the fight and the emergency services rushed to treat the injured.

A counsellor from the Department of Education attended the school yesterday to help the pupils get over the shocking incident which left the two women receiving treatment in hospital.

The row was a continuation of a long-running feud between the two Traveller families.

Gardaí in the Co Galway town say that they are following a definite line of enquiry into the incident and that arrests and charges in the matter are imminent.

One parent who declined to be named said the scene was very frightening.

“We just took the children and went inside. It was shocking and terrifying and we did not know how it was going to escalate, especially after the stabbing.

“The screaming and shouting completely shocked the children and last night they were asking questions and crying.

“My young son was unable to sleep last night after it, and I’m glad the school are to address the matter with counselling,” she said.

“It is a disgrace that these feuds are allowed to come into the schoolyard.

“This is how feuds have escalated in Limerick and we don’t want this to be the case here in Ballinasloe where there have been good relations between the settled and Traveller communities.”

She said that parents have fears that this will happen again and that the children may get caught up in the violence next time.

“The school and the gardaí will have to get assurances from the feuding families that they will not bring their row to the school.”