Investigation into sewerage of Laois school finds source of serious problem

An investigation into the problematic sewerage system in a Laois primary school has found that the building needs a “fundamental job” to reconstruct it.

The investigation commissioned by Scoil Mhuire NS Board on Management in Abbeyleix, has found that the system is totally overloaded, only fit for a third of the population it now serves.

It means that every floor will need to be dug up, on top of the school needing a new roof.

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Children at the school are holding on rather than use toilets due to the smell, according to Senator Pippa Hackett who visited last week. The school has also closed off two classrooms over structural concerns. 

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/local-news/645766/children-refuse-to-use-smelly-toilet-at-truly-dreadful-laois-school.html

The Minister of State Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming has now given the Leinster Express new information.

He said that it was he who brought the Minister for Education Norma Foley on a virtual visit to the school last March. She undertook then to get an structural audit done, the first step to funding construction work.

“We have all been in the school. As a result of that visit the department asked the school to get a full camera report on the sewerage system. That is a fundamental part of the audit. People were concerned that the old metal pipes were leaking and creating the smell. The key thing that the cameras show is that it is a capacity issue, not that pipes are damaged or leaking.

“The school was built as an eight teacher classroom 30 or 40 years ago. Now it has 14 mainstream, 3 ASD classrooms and six other rooms for special education. That’s 23 teaching rooms, almost triple the number. 

“The Minister told me she has contacted the Building and Planning Unit and wants that audit report on her desk asap. 

“To me it proves the case that there needs to be a very fundamental job done. Every floor will have to be dug up. At least now we can understand that for the first time. The roof is beyond repair, we know that, so doing the audit has uncovered the extent and at last we have evidence.

“As soon as I hear she has the report I’ll be on to her within 24 hours. We need a quick temporary solution but the Minister may want a full retrofit of the school as well,” Dep Fleming said. 

Asked if the children will have to return to smells in September, he said that emergency work may take place this summer, even though the school is not included on the department's Summer Works repair scheme. 

“Emergency works can always supercede that, I will be absolutely pushing for that. It is an absolute priority for me to get this school dealt with,” Dep Fleming said.

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