LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

A KILDARE PRIMARY school will close temporarily from tomorrow due to safety concerns.

The Board of Management of St. Patrick’s Primary School in Celbridge said it made the decision due to recent fire safety and building compliance concerns.

A parent’s association meeting with the school’s Board of Management has been arranged for tomorrow night at 8pm.

A message from the Board of Management to parents said that the decision had been taken in the “interests of the safety, health and welfare of our pupils and staff”.

It cited “independent assessments” which “identified a number of fire safety and building compliance matters which require urgent attention”.

The statement said the closure will allow for “priority works and ensure full statutory compliance”.  

The Board of Management also said the decision has been taken “proactively” and that “acting at this stage allows required works to proceed in a controlled and structured manner, rather than responding reactively at a later point”.

It apologised for the disruption that will be caused to families but added that the “safety of our school community however must remain the overriding consideration”.

In a Department of Education assessment from last year, viewed by The Journal, a consultant’s report states that the modular prefab units “not fit for purpose” and “poses a serious immediate threat”.

It noted “serious breaches of fire safety regulations” and states that “deep remedial
and retrofit works are required”.

Plywood on the ground floor was said to be “rotting and failing… resulting in collapse of the floors”.

There were also “multiple instances of water penetration at roof/ceiling level”.

The report added that “ad hoc repairs have been carried out over the years”.

Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North, Naoise Ó Cearúil, has said that the closure is “completely unacceptable and an immediate solution needs to be found”.

He added: “The Department of Education needs to stop sitting on their hands and act in the best interests of these children.”

He also called on the Department of Education to “urgently relocate unused modular classrooms from Mercy Convent Primary School in Naas to St Patrick’s National School in Celbridge”.

“There are modular classrooms sitting unused in Naas while children in Celbridge are being forced out of their school because the temporary units they are using are almost twenty years old and no longer safe,” said Ó Cearúil.

“The Department needs to move those units to Celbridge now. To my mind there is no reason why this cannot be done.”

He also said that “continuing to attempt repairs on the existing prefabricated buildings, which were originally intended to last only a number of years, is both wasteful and unacceptable”.

“Trying to patch up 19-year-old modular buildings again and again makes no sense, either from a safety point of view or a financial point of view.

“Relocating the unused classrooms from Naas is a common-sense solution that can be delivered quickly and safely.”

Meanwhile, he remarked that the “long-term plan for a permanent school must continue, but right now the priority is ensuring pupils and teachers have a safe place to learn and work”.

“That can be done quickly by relocating the available modular units from Naas.

“The solution is there. It is practical, it is affordable and it can be done quickly. What is needed now is urgency.”