All of the more than 400 schools which were having asbestos removed during the summer months by the Office of Public Works are now open and functioning.

This includes the small number of schools which delayed the new term by a matter of days.

A spokesperson for the OPW said the late openings were because some schools decided to seize the hour and carry out classroom and building work of their own.

The OPW has so far examined 1,200 of the 3,500 schools it will look at for asbestos removal countrywide. The 400 of these which were found to need work, and which have now been made safe, are in counties Kerry, Kilkenny, Carlow, Kildare and Donegal.

The work was carried out as part of an OPW programme to remove asbestos from all public buildings. The OPW spokesperson stressed that, because asbestos "only becomes active when disturbed" there was no danger to children or teachers in the 2,300 schools which remain to be examined.

Asbestos, an insulating material, was used mainly between 1950 and late l970s - though some has been found in buildings from the early l980s.

The OPW spokesperson said too that a "random" number of schools in other parts of the country, which were making structural changes or renovations, have had asbestos removed to prevent the material becoming active in the event of it being disturbed. The entire cost of the programme of detection and removal in schools is being borne by the Department of Education and Science which says it will have spent £4m by the end of this year.

A spokesperson for the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) said that "because of the threat posed by asbestos to health and safety" the organisation would urge the OPW to "move on with as much speed as possible with the rest of the programme".