Management and parents at a special school in Portlaoise say they are angry and upset over a decision by the Department of Education to put on hold plans to build a new school.
The project is one of 58 the Government has stalled due to capital funding pressures.
While discussions between government departments have been ongoing to secure additional funding, Kolbe Special School said that, as of today, it has not been given any assurances that the new build will proceed.
"This was a hall. The children would have had a teacher who came to do PE with them but now our PE hall has gone into storage," explains Orlagh Mahon, Principal of Kolbe Special School.
The school caters for 43 children within the severe to profound learning disability spectrum and has been located at its current site since 2000.
The facilities were meant to be temporary and plans were under way back then for a new school.
Due to a lack of space the current building no longer has a sensory room and the PE hall is full of equipment, due to a lack storage.
"I feel absolutely devastated. It's like we've been insulted. We were so close and now we're so far. The most vulnerable children have no space for proper learning," explains Ms Mahon.
It is a week since management were told their new build was being put on hold.
Planning permission for the long-awaited school was granted in February last year and the project was due to go to tender.
Parents are concerned. Lynsey Behan says on rainy days, her son cannot get the physical activity he needs.
"Physical activity is massive for these children. My son can walk, he started walking 3 years ago, he's thirteen. If he can't get out to walk, he becomes frustrated. On a day like today he can go for a walk around the yard but if it's raining, he can't go outside and there's nowhere to exercise in the school because it's so cluttered and it's not safe."
Orlaith Kerrigan is another worried parent.
"As a parent of a child with disabilities, you spend all your life on waiting lists, but I've never been on a list that I don't have access to and that I can't query. We've been allocated a place of priority and we don't know what it is and we don't know how the decision was made. We want answers," said Ms Kerrigan.
"This school caters for children with severe and profound disabilities. They deserve it and we deserve it," she added.
Niamh Ryan said parents are devastated and fed up.
"My son started here 9 years ago, and we were told then, don't worry, it doesn't look like much but there's a new school on the way. We're still waiting," she said.
"There's mould on the walls. There's equipment everywhere. The sensory room is gone. They're using mobile hoists which are a hazard for children who are mobile. The nurse's station is tiny. It's just so frustrating," she said.
"Our children need their new school. We're just so sick of waiting," Ms Ryan added.
The Department of Education says it intends to provide clarity to schools about their school building projects as quickly as possible.
It said that as part of its planning for 2023, it is assessing its work programme and priorities in the context of its available funding.
It said it is also engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in relation to capital funding pressures in order to continue to be able to support the operation of the school system with rollout of school building projects to tender and construction in 2023 and minimise project delays to the greatest extent possible.
The Department said it is very conscious of the need to support the operation of the school system and intends to provide clarity for individual schools about their school building projects as quickly as possible.
For the students and their parents, word from the Department can't come soon enough.
Lisa Marie Cullen, another concerned parent is hoping the project will go ahead.
"Being a full-time parent to a child with complex needs, it's draining. We don't have time to organise the big protests, but we do hope there is someone out there who is going to listen to us," said Lisa Marie Cullen.
