School For Scandal

Why have children at Gaelscoil Bharra in the Dublin suburb of Cabra been forced to attend classes in prefabs that are rat-infested, draughty and leaking? Even while Celtic Tiger Ireland was roaring, it became common practice, before entering the pre-fabs in the morning, for teachers to bang on the door to scare the rats away. They still do.

As Niamh Moloney, a parent of one of the pupils, told Hot Press, “The pre-fabs are actually situated on the grounds of St. Finbarr’s GAA club. In 2000, the Department of Education told us that the conditions were highly unsatisfactory by any standards. But five years later, an internal memo in the Department admitted that they still had done nothing to remedy the situation. Their excuse was that they’d lost the relevant file. Over the years we’ve had countless promises that this would be sorted out. Nothing happened – so we’ve decided we’re not going to put up with it any more.” 
When he was Taoiseach, local TD Bertie Ahern made numerous promises to get the matter sorted out.
But guess what? Nothing was done and the kids continued to be taught in primitive and unsanitary conditions.
The children currently have to negotiate sinking floors, leaking roofs and sewage problems. The storage heaters in the classrooms do not provide adequate heat, and extra free-standing heaters cannot be used for health and safety reasons.
Now the parents of the children attending Gaelscoil Bharra have had enough, and are stepping up their campaign to have the shameful neglect of the school highlighted nationally.
While they’re not excluding the possibility of taking legal action against the Department of Education, their current priority is to make people aware of the way in which their children are being treated like second-class citizens.
As part of the campaign, local rockers Tupelo are to release a special single and to hold a concert in aid of the parents. Singer James Cramer says: “When my son Cian started attending the baby infants class at the school, I realized how appalling the conditions were. Meeting the teachers, another parent brought it home to me that this was totally unacceptable and that we needed to do something – otherwise the Department will let it go on for another 14 years.”
Spurred into action, Cramer persuaded his mates in Tupelo to back the teachers and parents by recording a single. “I was down at the school one day and I saw a sign up with the slogan ‘‘Cá Bhfuil Ár Scoil?’ on it, and I thought that would make a great title for a song to front a campaign. So I wrote it and Tupelo have recorded it and it’s now available for download. We also have a video for it on YouTube,” he says.
The question now is: can they get it to No.1 and really embarrass the authorities? Over to you... JH

Tupelo’s single ‘Cá Bhfuil Ár Scoil?’ is available for purchase from iTunes store and www.myspace.com/tupelomusicireland. Physical copies will also be available from Tower Records