A fire broke out in a secondary school in Co Dublin this afternoon causing the evacuation of 200 pupils sitting their Leaving and Junior Certificate geography exams.
Pupils at St Laurence's school in Ballybrack were told to abandon their geography papers after 15 minutes when a fire started in a nearby lunch room in the school's gymnasium at 1.40 p.m. There were no injuries.
The Department of Education will decide whether the pupils at the school will be able to complete or re-sit their exam.
Personnel from three fire engines took several hours to put out the blaze. Gardaí are investigating the fire.
This is the second fire to occur in an exam centre in a week. Emergency examination centres for 300 Leaving and Junior Certificate students were set up when a fire in Tullamore College in Offaly broke out in the early hours of last Thursday morning.
Gardaí found no evidence linking the fire with an attempt to disrupt the exams.
