Pupils in a school in Co Tipperary are being taught in converted toilets, cloakrooms and staff rooms due to worsening overcrowding, the school's board of management has claimed.
At Carrig National School outside Nenagh, some children are being taught in classes of more than 30 pupils, according to chairman of the school board of management Brian Hanly.
At the 143-pupil, five-teacher school, the general assembly room normally used for computer and extra-curricular classes has been converted into a classroom.
Following a lengthy planning application process, a new Portakabin providing extra teaching space is expected to be installed in the coming weeks, as part of the efforts to alleviate what Mr Hanly described as "cramped conditions".
"When this [ the Portakabin] arrives, it will be located on the existing volley ball court in the yard. So while we have an extra 30 pupils in the school this year, our school yard has been reduced in size by over 106sq m [1,137sq ft] to accommodate the Portakabin," he said.
The scale of overcrowding in the small rural school - which operates "multiclasses", where two class levels are taught simultaneously - is reflected in first and second classes, where there are 33 pupils in attendance.
Added to this, there are 31 pupils in fifth and sixth classes and 27 pupils in one junior and senior infants' class. Only one classroom has a toilet as part of its classroom area.
"They [ the county council] say we have to provide a new sewage treatment plant because our own septic tank is not sufficient any more. Meanwhile, the children are in place . . . in cramped conditions," Mr Hanly noted. The school was previously identified by the Department of Education for refurbishment and an extension, due to the increasing number of residential developments in the surrounding areas of Nenagh.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation estimates that one-quarter of all children who started school this year are in classes of 30 or more pupils, despite Government pledges to provide classrooms with a maximum of 20.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education confirmed the school had recently been approved for temporary accommodation and said she was not aware of delays. She said the department was viewing ways in which the long-term needs of the school could be addressed, adding that a technical assessment of the school's site would take place shortly.