The Department of Education and Science has begun an examination of all school buildings to see if they contain asbestos which, if broken up and inhaled, can cause cancer.
A Department spokesman said the survey would find out how many schools contained the material and what state it was in.
He said a circular had been sent to schools pointing out that asbestos was only dangerous if moved. It told all schools to have their buildings checked and if an emergency was identified to contact the department immediately and the material would be removed.
He said the national survey, likely to take three years, followed an earlier examination of schools in the south-east.
As reported in the Sunday Tribune yesterday, the Health and Safety Authority took a successful prosecution against the department recently after asbestos tiles were disturbed during refurbishment of Scoil Colmcille in Malin, Co Donegal.
The spokesman said as part of the department's capital rebuilding and renovation programme considerable amounts of asbestos would be removed over the next few years anyway. The Department had money from this source and from a separate fund for health and safety projects to put towards remedial works.
He said the review of buildings was part of normal precautions in relation to asbestos.