STAFFROOM: We are incensed en masse. There may be only three of us in the staffroom, but if there were a unit to measure anger we would be collectively off the scale at the moment. The reason? One more election gimmick to sidetrack us from our problems. You see, we are sub-standard. And by the looks of things likely to remain so indefinitely.

It's perhaps worth clarifying here that it is our buildings that are condemned - not ourselves, our pupils or the education we strive to provide in the most deplorable of conditions.

We have no GP room, no office, no storage space and no hope of any parole judging by the non-response of Minister Woods to the intolerable conditions in which we work.

Two of our learning support teachers share a tiny cloakroom, which also serves as a lunchroom for seven members of staff. Needless to say, lunch is staggered. Some 30 pupils sit in ancient desks in the senior room - a room that would inflict brain-damage on the proverbial swinging cat. Some of our parents were educated in better conditions 25 years ago than those their children are experiencing now.

And this situation continues on a daily basis as a revised curriculum lauding the benefits of child-centred, activity-based learning is rolled out to schools across the State. No go, no space! While Minister Woods extols the benefits of PE - of course, so do we. We have plans, we have a site, we have everything we need to proceed. Except the go-ahead to the next stage from the Department. And in the meantime we are so exasperated at the latest sidetracker. The annual minor works grant has just been announced. It won't build the new school we need - it won't even add a small staffroom.

So, come on Minister, stop playing us for fools. Acknowledge the fact of our deplorable conditions and act - in a realistic way.