EXTREMELY angry, frustrated and let down by the Minister for Education is how parents and teachers at Crumlin Multi-denominational School, Dublin, say they are feeling right now. Niamh Bhreathnach, whom they have long regarded as a champion of equality, pluralism and parental involvement in schools, and a major player in the struggle against educational disadvantage, is failing to live up to her reputation, they believe.

The Crumlin school is faced with imminent closure and the question on the lips of both parents and teachers is whether it will be a Labour Minister for Education who will preside over the first closure of a multi-denominational school in this State.

The school is currently located in an old Georgian house off Tyrconnel Road, Inchicore. Bedrooms and sittingrooms have been turned into classrooms. The entrance hall is lined with discarded bread delivery trays which have been painted and converted into book racks by resourceful parents. However, the lease has run out and the owners, Zoe Developments, want to redevelop the site and have put the multi-denominational group under notice to quit.

"We're squatters here we don't like it, but we have no choice," says school principal Tom Conaty.

The school developed out of the South City School Project, Crumlin, which was burned down three years ago. Many children moved to a new location in Rathfarnham, but a small number remained and established the Crumlin school - first in a disused factory in Kilmainham and more recently in the Inchicore building.

The main problem facing the 2 families involved in this battle is that for the most part they are poor and without influence.

"Seventy per cent of our pupils come from Drimnagh, Inchicore and Crumlin. These are working class areas people are not in a position to fund the school," Conaty says.

Countless relatively well-off, middle-class families have struggled long and hard to establish multi-denominational schools imagine how much harder it is for people who are without money. The fact that the Crumlin group has survived so long is a testament to the tenacity, determination and commitment of its members.

Meanwhile, the parents have scoured the area - where property prices have escalated in recent times - in search of alternative accommodation.

The group has earmarked a number of suitable buildings which are publicly owned, but they fear that these will be sold on the open market at prices way beyond the capacity of the Crumlin parents. The search has been time-consuming and exhausting.

"We'd rather not be doing this," says parent Deirdre Tobin. "It's taking a lot of time and I'd prefer to be at home supervising the homework."

Why then, are they persisting? Why don't they take the easy way out and simply send their children to ordinary national schools?

Because, they say, the reasons that they sent their children here in the first place still hold good, and their children are receiving the type of education they want for them.

"I came from Glasgow to live in Dublin six years ago," explains lone-parent Irene Macintosh. "I sent my daughter to the local national school, but the education was stereotypical - the books were full of families that had mummies, daddies and children, nothing else. I wanted my daughter to be in an environment where she would learn to respect differences - people from different faiths, gays, lesbians, Travellers, the disabled."

"We moved to this area because of the multi-denominational school," says Liz Butler. "I want my child to learn about different cultures but not feel excluded because she's not part of a particular faith."

"I'm in a second relationship," says another parent. "The ethos at ordinary national school made me feel uncomfortable. Here everyone is upfront about different types of families."

The question of absorbing the children into other multi-denominational schools has been floated. But the parents say that the distances are too great for their children to travel, there are no direct bus routes and anyway all the multi-denominational schools are over-subscribed.

"This is not like any ordinary school," says Deirdre Tobin. "We've put our hearts and souls into it, there's a wonderful atmosphere and the children love it."

The Crumlin school has gained only temporary recognition from the Department of Education. In order to gain full recognition (and therefore obtain capital grants) it needs to show that it is viable and that the enrolment is increasing.

"We have gone from 10 to 33 students, we have employed a second full-time teacher and now we are at the stage that even though we are facing closure, four more, children have started," says Tom Conaty.

"The Department wants us to show an extending roll - but we can't take in any more children - we have no space.

The fact that parent groups find it impossible to fund the purchase of sites on which to build their schools is a major obstacle to the spread of multi-denominational education in this country.

"We don't need ownership of a school," but we do need a major grant towards the cost of leasing a premises," says Conaty.

What they lack in financial resources, the parents say, they can make up for in building and allied skills. "We're willing to get down on our hands and knees and renovate a building voluntarily," they say.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education has recently offered the group the use of a number of prefabricated buildings that were formerly used by the Kilkenny School Project.

However, this offer, say the parents, is of little use, since the Crumlin school lacks a site on which to place them. As a result of discussions with officials in the Department of Education, the group is convinced that there is a genuine will to assist them, but they wonder why so little has been forthcoming.

For the Crumlin parents - who are determined to pursue the issue in the High Court and if necessary in the European Parliament - and the teachers, the issue is clear: Does the State have a responsibility to ensure free multi-denominational education for those citizens who choose to avail of it, or is this type of education to be the sole preserve of the better-off sections of our society?

And they wonder whether Minister Breathnach is genuine in her commitment to the principles of pluralism, partnership and equality which are such an integral part of the White Paper.