Building work on almost 400 primary schools has been frozen because of Government spending cuts. Seán Flynn, Education Editor, reports.
The schools affected include several already singled out by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) as being unfit accommodation for pupils and teachers.
According to an Irish Times survey, no progress has been made on 389 primary schools listed by the Department of Education as being at the "architectural planning" phase shortly before the election.
But the survey - which compares the April list with the Department's updated information - shows that these schools remain on the drawing board with no additional work under way.
Last night, Mr John Carr, general-secretary of the INTO said he was "angered and dismayed" by the result of the survey. "Schools had been given the impression that something was happening but the reality is very different. Schools are fed up being told they are on a list. They want to know when, if ever, the urgent critical work they need will actually be done."
Last month, the Estimates cut the primary building programme by 4 per cent, despite the severe accommodation crisis in many primary schools. Many of the schools affected are on the INTO's "black-list" of sub-standard schools. Mr Brian McMahon, principal of one such school in New Ross, Co Wexford, said: "I am coping with leaks, damp and radon limits, which are four times the safety limit. We have been waiting since 1972. The current situation is untenable for an educational establishment."
The full list of primary schools and how the Government cutbacks are affecting proposed building work is published in The Irish Times today.
Mr Carr said the true situation is even worse than the survey reveals as there was no information on hundreds of other schools which have not reached the architectural planning phase. "We are moving at a snail's pace when it comes to the accommodation crisis in primary schools. But what we urgently need is a major investment of funds to resolve this national crisis."
The Government has been under pressure from the education partners to relax the cuts on primary school buildings. The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, is known to be dismayed by the quality of accommodation. He hopes to secure agreement with the Department of Finance next year on a five-year rolling school modernisation programme. He says he hopes to publish a full list to tell schools where they stand early in the new year.