Vandalism of Laois school leaves local community outraged

CCTV is currently being reviewed by Gardaí following the vandalism of property at Scoil Bhríde Rathdowney.

The incident of vandalism at the local primary school was discovered on Monday morning, where the school garden was targeted. Gardaí have since launched an investigation into the incident.

Potted plants and flowers grown by students were overturned and damaged, while a shovel was used to leave large holes around the area. 

The door of the polytunnel was wrenched off and tossed to the ground, and a pitchfork was used to slash and tear the polytunnel open in parts.

PICTURED; The damage at Scoil Bhríde Rathdowney. Photos courtesy of Dennis Doheny.

"The likes of this has never happened before," said school principal Denis Doheny.

"We have great support from parents and the community following the incident. I'm here five years this October and we have never had an incident of theft or damage."

"For some reason, the ground was dug up with a shovel around the garden," said Mr Doheny.

"The door was also taken off the polytunnel and thrown on the ground. Everything was thrown around. There was a sprong put through the polytunnel at one stage."

The damage was discovered on Monday after the school reconvened from the weekend.

"The whole school are involved in gardening", Mr Doheny continued.

"There has been a tradition of gardening in the school for a long time. One of the teachers here does great work in the garden. It's an insult to the whole school community really, that anyone would do something like this," he said.

"This incident is not typical of our school, nor is it typical of Rathdowney, and the previous principal would say the same thing. It's an alien situation to us, and we're thankful that this is the case."

The school have alerted the Gardaí, who are currently investigating the matter. Mr Doheny told us that he posted the pictures on Facebook and was overwhelmed with support from the community.

"The Gardaí have been very good to us- they've done their tests and an investigation is under way," said the principal.

"According to the reaction on Facebook, there's a lot of good feeling towards the school, and a lot of outrage towards the people who caused this. The one positive thing to take from this is the reaction from our community.

The support has been a great reassurance to us, and I hope that the outrage might embarrass those responsible and prevent them from doing something like this again."

"Its not major damage that was done, but it is vandalism with no purpose behind it. It's not what you want to come in to on a Monday morning. I hope that it was a once off, that's all I can really say," Mr Doheny finished.

Rathdowney Garda Station are currently appealing for information on the incident.

"This has been reported to us and we are investigating the matter. Anyone that has any information, please contact us at Rathdowney Garda Station," said Sergeant Paul Howard.