The principal of a Co Wicklow secondary school has described his shock after three classrooms in a prefabricated building went up in flames as he attended a meeting in the school on Monday evening.
Mr Tony Bellew, principal of the 400-pupil St Brendan's College CBS, Bray, had just finished a meeting of a sub-committee of the board of management when he was alerted to the fire by a passer-by.
"We looked up to see flames coming up all over the school. It looked for a minute like the whole school would go up," he said. "We were lucky. We wouldn't have been able to see what was going on."
The building, which also served as a changing room and storage area for the school, was destroyed. Gardaí in Shankill are investigating but have not yet established a cause. Garda technical experts were examining the scene yesterday. One possible cause could be an electrical fault, but arson has not been ruled out.
Mr Bellew said he hoped to reopen the school later today, although his main priority was to ensure the school was safe. Parents at the school have raised an estimated €100,000 over the past three years in an attempt to improve the facilities, he said.
The prefabricated building which was destroyed also housed the school's tables and chairs used in exams, as well as the props for the school musical.
"We've been battling for better facilities for years," Mr Bellew said. "Our insurance premiums are very high anyway, so we would certainly be concerned.
"Prefabs are just a short-term solution...I would much prefer to see a permanent structure."
Ms Susie Hall, president of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, described Monday's fire as a "terrible blow" to the school. "It takes so long to get any equipment in a school that if you lose it, it can be very distressing," she said. "Parents are marvellous in the amount of fundraising they do.
"You can manage for a day, a week or a month without adequate facilities. But it's the hopelessness of a permanent situation of buckets catching drips which is so demoralising."