The INTO is to intensify its efforts to upgrade all primary schools after a health and safety study delivered a damning verdict on many classrooms.
The report from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) found evidence of schools which were dilapidated with poor sanitary conditions and dangerous electrical wiring.
Schools in need of urgent attention included, Carns National School in Moneygold, Co Sligo; Ennis National School, Co Clare; St Catherine's National School in Arthurstown, Co Wexford and Ardee Community School, Co Louth.
The number of complaints to the HSA from schools educational institutions has increased dramatically in recent years as schools step up pressure for badly needed repairs. Over 100 complaints were received in 2003, compared to just a quarter of this figure in 1999.
In 2001 the HSA carried out 170 inspections on educational institutions and issued 16 improvement orders. Increasingly, requests to the Department of Education and Science for improvement and renovation assistance cite health and safety legislation.
The HSA report refocuses public attention on the problem of dilapidated school buildings. The issue moved to the top of the education agenda two years ago, but it has been less prominent in recent years as the Government moved to respond to the pressure from the INTO and from school communities.
In recent years, over €200 million annually has been committed to primary school buildings. But the HSA inspection reports underline that the problem remains for some of the 4,000 primary schools in the State.
Last night, the INTO general secretary, John Carr, acknowledged that "a great deal of progress has been made with many schools. Minister Hanafin and her predecessor Noel Dempsey secured significant budget increases over the last two years and both prioritised primary schools in terms of capital spending."
He said the HSA reports published yesterday were commissioned by the union "to impress on the Department the seriousness of the situation. Primary teachers identified substandard accommodation as a priority some years ago and the INTO has campaigned vigorously to improve the situation."
Last night Mr Carr said that while "much has been achieved, more remains to be done. There is a huge deficit to make up when it comes to school buildings. Too many schools were allowed to fall into disrepair because of historic underfunding. Other schools were built on the cheap . . . which now need urgent investment."
During his term in office, the former education minister, Noel Dempsey maintained there was no reason why schools should be rat-infested when funding for emergency maintenance work was, in his view, readily available.
Last year, the Department of Education finalised a rolling five-year school modernisation programme with the Department of Finance.
