One girl complains of a sore arm, but it’s smiles all round

AS the screening of 220 pupils and teachers from Ballintemple National School began, there was no sense of panic at St Finbarr’s hospital.

Shortly after 11am two happy-go-lucky pre-teens ambled nonchalantly out of the chest clinic. Minutes later they were joined by a clutch of giggling girls, along with a teacher, and maybe a parent, all appearing oblivious to the potential seriousness of the situation, laughing and chattering as though on a routine school trip.

The girls were attending the clinic as part of a mass screening process at the school known locally as Crab Lane, just a short drive from the hospital, following a TB outbreak.