Vandals broke into a newly refurbished school in west Donegal on Wednesday night and caused considerable damage to several classrooms and the new furniture. They smashed windows, tore shelves from walls, scattered books and paintings and let off fire extinguishers throughout the building.
The Loughanure school was the subject of national coverage in 2003 when parents removed their children because of poor conditions.
Parents and children protested outside the premises for nearly three weeks until the Department of Education allowed them to relocate to another premises. Later that year the department announced a €300,000 grant under a new devolved scheme and the parents' committee raised the balance of €100,000 to help complete the work.
In September 2005 the 65 children and teachers returned to the school which included three new rooms, a gym and computer facilities.
Principal Maireád Nic Suibhne said the incident was very disheartening for everyone.
Garda technical experts were due to carry out a forensic examination of the building yesterday.