A new group has been set up to campaign against the Government over the poor condition of hundreds of primary schools.
The group, known as Tuismitheoirí Le Chéile, intends to hold public meetings around the State to highlight the large number of dilapidated and rodent-infested schools. Already, 150 schools have joined the campaign, but organisers hope to gain support among parents and teachers in 450 other schools.
Parents from St Anne's in Shankill, Co Dublin - a school which has been waiting for urgent repairs for several years - set up the group.
By St Patrick's Day the group hopes to have collected 100,000 signatures. It also hopes to contact the European Ombudsman about the slow pace of the school building programme.
Following a recent meeting, the primary teachers' union, the INTO, has expressed an interest in the campaign, and a proposed name-change - Múinteoirí agus Tuismitheoirí Le Chéile - is being considered.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Dermot Lacey, has granted the group the use of the Mansion House for a meeting on February 12th, to begin the campaign.
A spokeswoman said: "We welcome any strong-minded parents willing to offer us their support in our non-political search for our children's basic rights.
"It is deemed in a republic that the elected public representatives exist to serve the common good, through the will of the people. Our representatives have played their last - and most dangerous - trick on a disillusioned Irish people. What they have done is not for the common good, and is against the will of the people," she added.
Several hundred schools are currently on a waiting list for urgent repairs. Some are proceeding to architectural stage, while others are further back in the process.
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, recently published a list giving details of what stage different schools were at.
He has said that while the Department could not solve every school problem, the publishing of the list at least provided a certain level of transparency for local communities.
However, campaigners claim that many schools are health and safety hazards and that remedial work cannot be put on hold any longer.
The INTO has also campaigned tirelessly on the issue. Increasingly, the union is joining with parents to highlight the plight of individual schools.