Council asked to repair Mayo school property which is a health and safety concern

MAYO County Council has been taken to task over disrepair at a property it leases to a primary school.

Castlebar Educate Together NS is housed in Marsh House, former home to the town council, where there are issues with the roof and gutters, and dampness in the main classroom.

The board of management has called on the council, as landlord, to address the health and safety issues at the property as a matter of urgency.

A photo submitted to the council shows dampness in the main upstairs classroom (previously where council meetings were held). Emergency works are pending planning and blocked gutters are exacerbating the problem.

The lights in the car park are also not working.

In an appeal to the council, principal Sarah Calvey set out how the school budget is running three separate premises and heating and lighting Marsh House is itself very costly.

It is not within their capacity to upkeep the building externally or the grounds of Marsh House.

She added: "External issues are now seriously impacting on the school, as can be seen from the spores evident in the photo. The board of management of Castlebar ETNS are calling on the council, as landlord, to address these health and safety issues as a matter of urgency as there are pupils breathing in these spores."

Councillor Ger Deere, supporting the school, said: “It is not good enough that Mayo County Council, as landlords, allow children and staff to work in these conditions, which are a serious health and safety issue.

“Mayo County Council would be the very ones to call out private landlords if they were not addressing similar issues in buildings they had leased.”

As a council, he continued, they needed to find a site or a more suitable building to accommodate the school, which has seen numbers growing each year.

“It is not acceptable in this day and age that a primary school has to operate out of three different buildings around the town,” he commented.