GARDAÍ BELIEVE a highly inflammable substance was used to start a blaze which has destroyed most of Meánscoil Fatima, part of a school complex serving 300 post-primary students in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
School principal Padraig Leyden spent most of yesterday trying to find alternative accommodation for first and second year students. “We are all devastated today. It is a huge personal loss for those of us in the school, and this has been made all the more painful by the knowledge that gardaí believe it was malicious.”
Asked about a motive, he said: “I don’t know if vandals have motives, or at least rational ones.”
Maureen Martin, the parents’ association chairwoman, said the people of the town were in despair yesterday. “It is horrendous,” she said. “Several classrooms and a staff room are just gone. The roof is gone at the back of the building. The children left all their school books there at the start of the holidays and everything is gone.”
The school has operated from three sites since 1970 when Meánscoil Fatima, the former girls’ secondary school, amalgamated with the vocational school 500 metres away, and with St Felim’s boys’ school in the town.
The fire is an additional disruption for the local community, where there has for years been a campaign for a new school building, given dangers to pupils who daily have to make a 500m walk and sometimes a 1.5km bus journey when changing class.
Mr Leyden who arrived at the scene at 5am yesterday, half an hour after the fire brigade were alerted, said he had been informed that an accelerant was used. “I understand that gardaí believe that the fire was started at a number of locations inside the building,” he said. Garda sources have confirmed that following a forensic examination they believe it was an arson attack.
The Department of Education said it had been informed that about 100 students had been “displaced” by the fire. “The department is working with the school to find a temporary accommodation solution and hope to resolve the matter shortly,” it added.
Mr Leyden explained that fourth and fifth year students are accommodated at St Felim’s, while about 150 junior students are based at Scoil Fatima. All students attend the vocational school for practical subjects such as home economics, metalwork and computers but he intends to accommodate third-year students there in the immediate future.
Some local buildings are being investigated as a potential temporary base for the 100 first and second year students, but Mr Leyden said some, including a vacant factory, did not have adequate toilet facilities or heating.
“I know the junior students believe all their Christmases have come together,” he said. “First they have a white Christmas, and then their school is burnt down.”
It was announced over a year ago that Ballinamore would get its long awaited secondary school in a public private partnership arrangement, but school authorities were pessimistic yesterday about this project being speeded up as a result of this latest blow.
“I just don’t know if one school can be separated out under the PPP scheme, but our need is great,” said Mr Leyden.
Local Fianna Fáil Senator John Ellis, who appealed to Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe yesterday to ensure alternative accommodation was provided, insisted the new building would be in place by 2012. “I know if anyone can cope with this it is the Ballinamore teachers who have in the past shown how resilient they are.”
