Parents, pupils and staff demonstrated outside Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí in Donegal town today to highlight what they say is a senseless decision to put the building of a new school on hold despite planning approval almost eight years ago.
Founded in 1999, the school has been in secondhand prefabs for 24 years with the five structures showing their age with dampness, broken floors, faulty windows and extremes of heat and cold.
The school got on the building list in 2016 and after a lengthy process, a contractor was appointed according to Jimmy Brogan, the parents representative on the Board of Management.
That contractor was ready to go - he was just waiting for the commencement letter from the Department of Education, Mr Brogan said - and then the email from the Department came to the school saying the project was being stalled.
The Department has confirmed that 58 school projects are on hold.
It said that its Planning and Building Unit is currently assessing its work programme and priorities for the remainder of 2023 in the context of its available funding and referred to on-going high construction inflation.
Minister Norma Foley has said she is committed to delivering the projects and her Department said each school will be updated when the Department's engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Delivery Plan Delivery and Reform concludes.
However, in terms of Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí, Mr Brogan says stalling the project for financial reasons makes no sense at all because a tender had been agreed which was valid for 180 days only after which the price could be increased in line with inflation.
That contract expires tonight, he said, and they are devastated at the school that the project is put on hold when it was just about to begin.
They fear they could lose their contractor if he gets another job and then they would have to go back and start the tender process all over again.
Teacher and parent at the school Cáitriona Uí Shúilleabháin said they were watching for the diggers to move in every day recently and are bitterly disappointed this has happened.
She said they have been very patient with the Department and the process involved but now they are at their wits end.
"Twenty-four years in the pre-fabs is just too much, it has come to a head for us and we can't take any more," she said.
Fine Gael Councillor Barry Sweeny was supporting the protest today.
Himself a parent of children attending another gaelscoil in the county, he said he is very disappointed at the Minister's decision to stall this project as the diggers were about to move in.
Cllr Sweeny said the money is there and he called for common sense to prevail and work to begin on the long-awaited new school.
Acting Principal at the school Colman Mac Cumhaill said they cannot understand the Department's decision "particularly when you think of all the money that has been spent so far and all that it will cost to stall it".
He said it does not make sense and they are trying to get to the bottom of it but have had no communication from the Department since receiving a four sentence email last week.
Sinéad O'Donnell-Carey, a parent of a child in fourth class and one who finished school there and is now in Leaving Cert, said they have been too polite and too quiet for too long.
They are now demanding that the commencement letter be given to the contractor to start work on the school, she said.
The news that the project was to be stalled was an absolute shock, she said.
"To be so close after 24 years and then all of a sudden to be so far - the rug was pulled from underneath us and it is not OK," Ms O'Donnell-Carey said.
For the almost 80 pupils in the school the news is bitterly disappointing, particularly for those in 5th and 6th class who feel they will now never get to sit in a new school and have a proper hall for drama and sport.
Ellen James and Niamh Brogan in 5th class pointed out damaged walls and damp ceilings and said the rooms are very cold in winter.
The girls said they are very sad and upset that they will not get to enjoy their last couple of years in school in a modern building.
