A two-room national school in Macroom, Co Cork, was forced to close yesterday when parents kept its 26 pupils from their classes in protest over the condition of the building.
Aghinagh National School, at Caum, Macroom, was listed by the INTO before Christmas as one of 73 schools nationally which it included in a roll of shame intended to highlight sub-standard schools and force the Department of Education to take action on them.
The two-teacher school, built in 1912, was to have been replaced four years ago by a new school but although a site was purchased and a design produced for the building, the Department, which had sanctioned plans for the new school, never released the necessary funds. Proposals for a replacement building were first made in 1996 and approved by the Department two years later.
All the relevant documents concerning the proposals are still on the Department's files. A flat-roofed, uninsulated room was added to the existing two rooms, which are partitioned, 15 years ago.
Staff and parents of children attending the school claim there is a vermin problem, lack of hot water, leaking toilets, which have been closed periodically, and disintegrating plasterwork.
The INTO has said the school is "seriously sub-standard." However, falling numbers at Aghinagh may be holding up progress on replacing it with a new school. Six years ago, there were 44 pupils on the roll, now the number is almost halved.
Father David Herlihy, chairman of the board of management, said that despite the drop in numbers, the tiny school building remained overcrowded. The Department said projected trends in enrolment would have to be established before a decision could be made on whether or not to go ahead with a new building.
The chairperson of the Parents' Association, Ms Josephine Cronin, said the parents loved the school but felt it was a shame to have to send children to classes in such dreadful conditions. All they wanted was for the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, to give the go ahead for the new school.
A spokesperson for the INTO said the union had been campaigning for years against the scourge of sub-standard schools and would continue to do so. Mr John Carr, the INTO's general secretary designate, had given a commitment, she added, to place the eradication of such schools at the top of his agenda.