Dept needs to learn vital lesson
THE revelation this week that the children of a Government minister were attending a Malahide school where pupils have been enduring shocking classroom conditions has caused quite a stir. That Minister Sean Haughey is employed at the Department of Education and Science makes it even more incredible and at the same time, indefensible.
Absorbing the myriad of complaints afflicting the temporary buildings at St Oliver Plunkett's NS was akin to taking a step into the third world.
Poor insulation, bad lighting, vermin, heating and electrical difficulties, noise problems, dust and mould are all common place in the dozen buildings, which are housing some 300 pupils at the third-biggest primary school in the country. The staff and school community have more than played their part, raising funds which lie idle in the bank, awaiting the department to finally deliver.
The instance of sickness and absenteeism amongst those attending the temporary buildings is alarming, particularly when you hear of children refraining to use the toilet in school due to the lack of privacy and instead ending up in hospital with urinary complaints.
Already, one pupil has been hospitalised with pneumonia. What more will it take for the department to learn from a most serious lesson?
