A PRIMARY SCHOOL that closed its doors temporarily today due to “urgent” safety and building compliance concerns will reopen on Monday. 

The news was given to parents by the Board of Management at St Patrick’s National School in Celbridge at a meeting this evening. 

More than 300 parents attended the meeting, where the chair of the board Breda Holmes said the building has been deemed safe by the Fire Officer from Kildare County Council and the Department of Education. 

Remediation works are currently underway at the school, with around 40 contractors working there today. The works are set to continue until August.

The Board also committed to providing weekly progress updates from the project manager and to improving communication with parents as works continue.

St Patrick’s Primary School has around 360 pupils and operates largely from modular buildings that are nearly two decades old.

Yesterday, the board of the school told parents that it would close today 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”.

Today’s sudden closure left parents scrambling for childcare and searching for answers from the board of management, with several having to take unexpected days off work as a result. The Journal spoke to a number of them at the school gates this morning. 

A consultant’s report submitted as part of an emergency works application last year warned the structures were “not fit for purpose” and posed a “serious immediate threat”.

The report, seen by The Journal, identified major fire safety breaches, failing fire doors and structural issues including rotting plywood flooring and water penetration through the roof.

Among the fire safety breaches were “almost universal failure of fire-doors and catastrophic failure of the ground floor plate”. Plywood on the ground floor was said to be “rotting and failing… resulting in collapse of the floors”, and there were also “multiple instances of water penetration at roof/ceiling level”.

The school site in Celbridge, Co Kildare. The Journal The Journal

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

One classroom was closed earlier this year due to water leakage, while another had part of its ceiling collapse during the Christmas period.

‘Things will start moving’

It’s understood that the Board mentioned a number of the safety issues that were flagged in the report at the meeting this evening, including the roofing. 

Local representatives also attended the meeting, though it was only parents who were given the opportunity to speak. 

Speaking to The Journal after the meeting, local Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin said the Kildare County Council chief fire officer had visited the site and confirmed the building meets fire safety regulations.

“We heard this evening that the fire officer has been down there and has said that the school is safe to open and that the fire regulations are in order,” Cronin said.

She said parents had expressed strong frustration at the meeting, but their concerns were being heard.

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“It’s good to see parents angry. The Board of Management has taken note of that, the Minister for Education has taken note as well, and I think things will start moving.”

Cronin also backed the Board of Management’s earlier decision to deem the building unsafe. “If they hadn’t taken that stand, there wouldn’t be 40 workers on that site today sorting it out.”

Trust ‘badly damaged’

Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North Naoise Ó Cearúil has praised the school’s Board, who he said “have clearly been working extremely hard to deal with a very difficult and stressful situation for the entire school community”. 

However, he said in a statement that it was clear from tonight’s meeting that the trust between parents and the authorities “has been badly damaged”.

“Parents spoke very openly about their fears and frustrations,” Ó Cearúil said. 

“Several parents raised serious health concerns during the meeting, including issues related to mould, children missing school due to asthma, and one parent describing how their daughter had previously been hospitalised with E. coli.”

He said parents also learned at the meeting that the Department is not considering providing replacement modular units while remediation works continue.

“I believe that approach needs to be reconsidered,” he said.

“There are unused modular units currently available in Naas which could be relocated to Celbridge quickly. Providing those units would give parents, staff and students reassurance and confidence while works continue on the existing building.”

Ó Cearúil said he will continue to press the Department to review the proposal “as a practical solution for the school community”.