A 71-year-old school has been forced to close its doors for six days due to rat infestation. The pupils at St Brendan's primary school in Blennerville in Tralee, Co Kerry, have been off classes since last Thursday after rat droppings were discovered in the school.
The headmaster, Mr Michael O'Connor, said he was told by the Department of Education three years ago that a new school would be built. But the building work has been put on hold indefinitely due to lack of funds.
The Irish National Teachers Organisation has campaigned about the physical conditions at dozens of primary schools around the State and the issue was high on the agenda in many constituencies during the general election campaign last summer.
"It's just one thing after another," Mr O'Connor said yesterday. "If we had a proper school, I don't believe we would be having this problem now. It was built in 1932. The children deserve better and so do the teachers.
"I've been around with the people from Rentokil and it's an old building with so many possible entry points . . . There is an old sewerage system and all the pipes have to be sealed.
"We couldn't let the children back until the whole place was sanitised. It's obviously very awkward on parents as well. People have to get baby-sitters. The children were just back. It's very disruptive."
Last year there were only two toilets for the 135 pupils but another bathroom was added before the school term to help alleviate the problem.
He said parents and teachers have been pleading with the Department of Education for years to build a proper school.
"A plan by the OPW was submitted to upgrade the building in 1998, but an inspector said in 1999 it wasn't worth being repaired. He said it would just bring a 1932 school up to 1960 standards."
Mr O'Connor said the pupils are squeezed into two-thirds of the space which should be allocated to students under Departmental guidelines.
"The rooms are just too small. A room with 30 children needs a minimum of 500 square feet - we have 345 square feet per room.
"The Department gave us a letter stating we were to get a new school in April 2000 and it has been put on hold. We have been given no indication of when we will get a new building."
The Department of Education and Science last night said it was not aware of the vermin infestation and it was a matter for the school authorities to deal with it through urgent health and safety maintenance works. The school should use its devolved grant for this purpose, the Department added. The school received approval for one temporary classroom in September 2003.
Mr John Carr, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, said his organisation informed the Department of Education that the school was a health hazard over 12 months ago. The closure of the school was the result of "the abysmal failure of government to fund the school building programme", he said.
It was unfair for the Department to say that this was a school management issue and that the school board had funding to deal with the matter, he said. Placing the problem back on the school was a "Pontius Pilate attitude", he said.