School is wrecked

May 1994

Bray School Project the latest victim.

Cash-starved Bray schools are being forced to divert slim resources from education to security, to protect themselves from marauding vandals. Four local schools in the Ballywaltrim area have been counting the cost of vandalism in recent times, being forced to invest tens of thousands of pounds on security measures, to protect their properties.

Just last weekend the Bray School Project became the latest victims, when windows were smashed and guttering was ripped from the side of their modern new school complex at Killarney Road.

And it was just the latest in a series of attacks on the property in recent months, according to principal Kieran Griffin, who says that they have paid out upwards of £2,000 to replace the broken windows during the current school year alone.

In response to the attacks, the department approved a £30,000 palisade fence around their property.

Similar experiences at St Fergal’s nearby resulted in close to £40,000 being spent on fencing last October, while neighbouring St Kilian’s was forced to go down the same road when fencing was erected and security personnel appointed more than two years ago.

Kiearan Griffin said that it is ‘sickening’ that the BSP has been forced to divert educational resources which are all too scarce to begin with to an unsightly perimeter fence, and states that the funds could have been expended far more positively on a school bus, or on materials for the classroom.

St Fergal’s teacher Cllr Joe Behan said that the children are the real victims of such mindless attacks.

‘It’s an absolute waste and is totally shameful that so much money has had to be spent on security measures, when cash is so tight, and even the most basic funding for improved education is hard to come by,’ he said.