Twenty-six children attending a County Cork national school were kept at home today as parents staged a protest outside the building at conditions in the school.
The school near Macroom has been declared "substandard" by the Southern Health Board and parents say the Minister for Education is deliberating delaying implementing plans for a new school building sanctioned in 1998.
This afternoon the Department of Education said the future of the school is to be assessed before any changes are made.
A Department spokesman said a report is due on long-term enrolments at the school which will determine the type of accommodation needed at the Aghina National School.
The Department said today enrolments at the school had fallen from 44 in the 1996-1997 school year to 26 at present.
As enrolments determine the "extent and type of accommodation to be provided", the Department ordered the assessment before it proceeded with the planned construction.
The spokesman said the Department would contact the school authorities once it gets the report. He declined to comment on today’s protest.