IF A child falls ill, or worse, in almost 120 one-teacher schools across rural Ireland there is no way to seek help unless the teacher leaves the children alone.
Over half of rural one-teacher schools does not have a telephone.
Last night the Irish National Teachers' Organisation called for funding for "basic necessities" in primary schools. Its president, Ms Sally Shiels, said national schools are getting less than the price of a bar of chocolate per child per day.
"Primary schools are being run on a shoestring," she said. "Separate funding to ensure, that every school has at least a telephone is essential. But another adult should also be employed in the school for safety reasons.
Ms Shiels will be attending the funerals of the 16 children and the teacher gunned down in the Duablane school gym on Wednesday.
Irish teachers were "shocked" at the massacre, she said. "There is a huge sense of empathy with the school. The sense of not being able to protect vulnerable children is terrible, but you can not protect against what happened in Scotland. It was an extraordinary incident."
Ms Shiels said there is a need to protect Irish children from the effects of the killings. "We do not want a panic reaction. We do not want to destroy their sense of security. The majority, of schools are safe havens, she said.
She urged schools to open books of condolences for the families of the shooting victims.
Yesterday a clinical psychologist at the Children's Hospital in Temple Street, Dublin, Ms Claire Hayes, stressed the need for adults to help children face up to what happened in Dunblane.
"The desperate tragedy in Dunblane has left us all shocked, saddened and numbed. While our thoughts and sympathies naturally are with the families of the children who died and with those who survived, we also must think of how to help our own children," she said.
Research shows that children of all ages can be affected by tragedies such as these, particularly when the funerals of the children are being shown on television, she said.
Children should be given the opportunity to express their feelings if they wish to do so. Writing letters or making cards for the children at Dunblane school would be one form of help for children here.