The principal of a primary school in county Leitrim, was a pupil in third class in Leckaun NS when the school originally applied for additional accommodation in 1993. “Last August she was told the application was at the final stage of assessment, that’s 30 years later,” according to Sligo Leitrim deputy Marian Harkin.

Deputy Harkin explained the situation to Junior Education Minister Thomas Byrne in a Dail debate this week on a Labour Party motion calling for action on delays in the School Building Programme.

Leckaun NS has four teachers with two classrooms. Each classroom is about 30 sq metres in size catering for 25 pupils, allowing about a metre square per pupil.

The special education teacher is teaching in the corridor and for 10 hours a week the school office is used for teaching English to Ukrainian students, leaving no space for a principal or a school secretary.

Describing it as a “great school in a vibrant community”, deputy Harkin says both pupils and teachers are packed like sardines. There are real health and safety issues that have to be addressed with additional accommodation.