School closed after dead rat found

PUPILS at a rat infested primary school in Mayo have been ordered home by the Western Health Board because the buildings are unsafe.

The 57 pupils of Bofeenaun National School were withdrawn yesterday and parents have agreed they will not return to school until new premises are available. The health board inspected the school after a dead rat was discovered on Monday in one of the toilets.

The school principal, Mr John Rowland, said conditions generally were "decrepit and dilapidated" and that a prefab which had been in use for almost 20 years was "punched full of rat holes, like the crust of a loaf of bread."

The school had always had a problem with rats, he added. "The whole place is a Mecca for them. A few years ago, when I pulled down the blinds to show a film, we had them running around the floor, because they thought it was night time."

Bofeenaun has been listed for replacement by the Department of Education and planning permission for a new school has been granted.

But funds have not yet been made available and the school manager, Father Seamus Heverin said the position had now reached a crisis point. "Any time we contact the Department of Education we are told that the plans for a new school are being processed but we are still waiting," he said.

The district representative for the Irish National Teachers Organisation, Mr Sean Rowley, said he was "appalled" at the conditions which teachers and students had had to endure.

Mr Rowland said that the local GAA club and community centre could facilitate classes while a new school was being built, but money would be needed for facilities.

TDs and county councillors have been invited to a public meeting in the village on Sunday to discuss the issue.