Schools to get poll holiday

Schools throughout the State which are to be used as polling stations for the presidential election in October are to get an additional day's holiday on their mid-term break, the Departments of Education and Environment confirmed yesterday.

Because of the desire of the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, that schools should co-ordinate their holiday periods, most national schools had made plans to take their October mid-term break from the close of school on Friday, October 22th.

The October bank holiday occurs on Monday, October 25th, and the schools have been given permission to remain closed throughout that week.

They do not return until Monday, November 1st, meaning that the school buildings are in the most cases empty for a total of nine days.

However, yesterday's announcement that polling day had been listed for October 22nd means the children will get an additional day, breaking up on Thursday, October 21st, instead of the following day.

Asked if polling day could not have been put back to one of the days when the schools were not required for teaching, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said the decision was not one for that Department to make, as polling days were fixed by the Department of the Environment. The spokeswoman later said that in this case the date "had been a Government decision".

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the Government had made the decision to hold the poll on October 22nd because families might be away from home for the mid-term break.

The Government's view was that some people might be away for the bank holiday weekend while others might take a holiday for the whole week, the spokesman added.