'Rat-infested' primary school to be refurbished

A PRIMARY school in Co Galway, described by its own principal as the most rundown in the whole country, has been given €180,000 in emergency funding for complete refurbishment.

Elizabeth Mulry, principal of Eglish National School in Ahascragh, said last year that the school was a “rat-infested fire trap”.

The 49-pupil primary school was given the money by the Department of Education after Ms Mulry went public on the problems in the school last year, saying that spores in the wall were causing asthma in children and slates falling off the roof were a potential hazard.

She also said that about half of the pupils began getting hives and headaches when they returned in September because there was no natural ventilation. The roof was sealed and the windows could not be opened.

Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe sent an inspection team into the school following the complaints.

A health and safety inspection identified 17 different areas of potential hazard, including the roof, the walls, the electric wiring and the windows, which do not open.

The money will be used to replace the roof, all the windows and the wooden floorboards. The school will be damp-proofed and rewired.

The work has already gone out to tender with a view to starting as soon as the pupils leave on July 1st and completing it over the summer while they are on holiday.

The refurbishment plan was approved by the school’s board of governors this week.

Ms Mulry said the original preference for the 109-year-old school, which Mary Harney’s father attended, was for it to be replaced by a new school.

However, Ms Mulry said she was “absolutely thrilled” by the decision.

“The children will have a lovely space to come back to in September and I can do a proper job as a teacher and principal instead of having to do repair jobs every morning. So many people have worked hard to get this for us.”

A department spokesman said the school had applied for a new building to replace the old one last year, but the department did not have sufficient funds to build a new one.

Instead, the €180,000 has been secured through emergency funding for health and safety works to include rewiring, roof works, windows, underpinning, dry lining and floors, the spokesman explained.