The Department of Education and Skills (DES) has announced that Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School is to close with immediate effect, following a safety assessment conducted at the school today.
Consultant structural engineers appointed by the Department have today identified significant structural issues with the Tyrrelstown ETNS building, similar to the structural problems discovered at Ardgillan Community College which closed last week. Educate Together also understands that nearby Saint Luke’s National School, Tyrrelstown is also to close with immediate effect.
This safety assessment was organised as part of a series of investigations being carried out on schools built within the past ten years by Western Building Systems.
For safety reasons, the Tyrrelstown ETNS building cannot be occupied whilst remedial works are being carried out. Educate Together expects that all students will be accommodated by the Department of Education after the mid-term break with interim accommodation solutions. These solutions are the responsibility of the DES. However Educate Together will assist the DES in any way it can in finding and sourcing suitable temporary accommodation for the school community.
Speaking on Morning Ireland this morning, Minister McHugh stated: “if today shows up that there are issues in that school [Tyrrelstown ETNS], certainly we are going to be anticipating that there will be more. That doesn’t mean there will be issues in all of them.” Educate Together is anxious that structural assessments take place at all other affected schools as a matter of urgency to ascertain the facts in the case of each individual school.
Educate Together acknowledges and reflects how inconvenient and frustrating this will be for the Tyrrelstown ETNS school community, and any other Educate Together school communities that may be affected by these structural issues. Educate Together is in ongoing communication with these schools and the DES.
