Only six sub-standard schools to get funding

Angry teachers accused Education Minister Michael Woods last night of grossly misleading the public after it emerged only six schools in the country would get any major funding this year.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will have to explain today to one school principal who missed out why he will have to keep 150 pupils in a disused furniture store for another year.

“A tragedy is waiting to happen in our school because we have 100 children on the first floor of a converted furniture store and only one fire escape,” Gaelscoil Bheanntraí principal Seán O’Briain said.

Mr Woods confirmed at the weekend that 496 primary and secondary schools had been given the go-ahead to go to tender for major building works.

The minister said these schools had been informed in writing, and under extreme pressure from the Opposition, promised to publish the full list of the schools due to get the funding by the end of the week. But last night, the minister published a list of only 112 sub-standard primary schools where work is in progress.

And this has outraged the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO).

“The minister says work is in progress in all 112 schools — while this is technically correct, what it really means is that it is mostly paperwork without a JCB in site in most of them,” INTO general secretary John Carr said. After carefully scrutinising the progress of works in each of these schools, the INTO found that only six of them will actually be able to go to construction this year.

“This list is not worth the paper it is written on — schools are as wise today as they were yesterday,” the INTO general secretary added.

Pupils in one school who have been waiting for money for the past six years protested yesterday in Burnfort, Co Cork.

“This list does not tell the pupils and teachers of Burnfort when they can expect a brick to be laid,” the INTO general secretary said.

Labour education spokeswoman Róisín Shortall challenged Bertie Ahern and the minister for education to say why the promised list of schools in need of major capital works had still not been published, despite a commitment. Department of Education press officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.