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Health concerns over Gaelscoil prefabs

Tuesday, 09 September 2008

PARENTS have expressed concerns that damp conditions in prefab classrooms at a Gaelscoil in South County Dublin could potentially damage their children’s health.
The Department of Education has been called on by parents and teachers to provide Gaelscoil Na Camoige in Clondalkin with a permanent school building to tackle what they describe as “appalling conditions” in the school’s 14-year-old prefab classrooms.
Earlier this year Paula Ni Chinnsealaigh, who has taught at the school for the last five years, told Southside People about the “nightmare conditions” that the 150 primary school children and teachers have to endure on a daily basis.
Miss Ni Chinnsealaigh described the conditions in the prefabs as “dreadful” and said that the state of the classrooms makes implementing the school curriculum “extremely difficult”.
“There are problems with ventilating and heating the rooms,” she said.
“The damp seeps in and we have buckets on the ground to catch the water or it seeps in through the windows and the only place we have for storage in the classrooms is on the windowsills.

“It can be absolutely freezing during the winter where kids have had to keep coats and scarves on for hours on end and maybe only take them off at about two o’clock.
“On the other hand it is actually sweltering during the summer; it is unbelievably hot and we had children fainting because of the heat. We have to have the fire door open all the time to get sufficient air into the room and it is just not safe.”
Gaelscoil Na Camoige was established 14 years ago but it has yet to be provided with any permanent accommodation and the Department of Education spends thousands of euros annually on paying rent for the school site.
Since Southside People spoke to Miss Ní Chinnsealaigh, the Department of Education has agreed to provide permanent accommodation for the school on a site in Clondalkin.
But concerned parents now want guarantees that the new school building will be constructed.
Clondalkin resident Pól O’Deoráin’s four young children John (11), Liam (9), Caoilfhiomn (7) and Saoirse (6) attend Gaelscoil Na Camoige.
“I can tell you that place will be damp and disgusting next Thursday morning when they go back to those prefabs,” he said.
“These were second-hand prefabs when the school got them originally and they are not made to last 14 years.
“My lad Liam fainted a couple of years ago in the prefab with the heat. There are a lot of children in the school complaining of headaches and there is a lot of absenteeism among children because of the headaches.
Clondalkin Sinn Féin councillor Shane O'Connor has called on Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, to announce when work can commence on a permanent school building for Gaelscoil Na Camoige.
Knowledge
“Permanent quality school buildings must be provided for our children even if the money has to be borrowed to do so,” Cllr O’Connor said.
“If we are to come out of recession and build the knowledge based economy that we so often talk about, then investment in education must be forthcoming.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said that Minister Batt O’Keeffe was “very much aware” of the issues concerning the school.
“In July 2008 the Minister met a delegation from Gaelscoil Na Camoige and confirmed to them that agreement had been reached to provide permanent accommodation on a VEC owned site,” she said.
“The Minister also explained to the delegation that he is currently reviewing the entire School Building and Modernisation Programme. When this process is complete, he will be announcing his decision on the progression of individual projects.”

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