Children to be withdrawn in Galway school protest

PARENTS at a vermin infested national school in Co Galway are to withdraw their children from class today because they have little faith in a political promise to refurbish the school this year.

The decision to extend the Christmas holidays for their children by at least a week came despite confirmation that Kilglass School, in a rural area near Ballinasloe, is due to be refurbished and included in the 1997 estimates.

The withdrawal, according to parents, is on the basis that they were in the same position twice before and refurbishment did not materialise.

The three teacher school with 85 pupils is one of 47 classified by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation as "seriously substandard" in physical condition. It has a multiplicity of problems because of its poor condition according to the school principal, Mr Michael Nee.

The building was erected in 1840 and refurbished in 1939. It has not changed since except for the installation of outdoor toilets in 1969. Rats and mice are frequently seen.

Rat holes are covered by pieces of wood throughout the school to keep the vermin at bay. A girl, while using an outdoor toilet a few weeks ago, had the first direct confrontation with a rat this winter.

One gable is so damp that it is barely keeping in place a noticeboard. There is inadequate ventilation, while the wiring is so old that it constitutes a fire hazard, Mr Nee said. Outdoor toilets are in poor condition, and electric heaters have to be used as storage heaters no longer work.

The school has been condemned by the Western Health Board on space grounds alone. There are 28 pupils from 5th and 6th classes in one room, half the recommended size.

The Department of Education confirmed that all planning for a refurbished and extended school is complete and is due to be included in this year's estimates. This is little comfort to parents, who have raised the required local contribution of £19,000.

"They are not banking on anything. ,We were in the same situation in 1995 and 1996. The parents are looking for a closing date for tenders. The's want the project advertised. They're not interested in promises," he said.

The decision to withdraw pupils was taken after 45 of the 51 parents with children attending the school said they were in favour of the action to highlight their grievances, their spokesman, Mr Tom Mannion, said. "Our main concern is for the health of the children. If the school was a restaurant, it would be closed down, yet there are up to 90 children eating there daily."

Meanwhile, pupils who were attending the rat infested Bofeenaun NS in Rathbane Co Mayo - a rural school near Castlebar, similar to Kilglass - face term at an alternative venue in the local community centre.

Their parents can take comfort in knowing that a new school will be completed later this year following the intervention of the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach.