Vandals hit school with intercultural ethos againGordon Deegan A PRIMARY school in Ennis, with 19 different nationalities among its students, was forced to close after vandals caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. The Ennis Educate Together School multidenominational and intercultural ethos has made it a magnet for children of varying nationalities living in Clare. But ironically on International Day Against Racism, the students have been forced to stay at home. Yesterday a distressed co-founder of the school Seán O´ Confhaola was left counting the cost of the second attack in seven days. "We were lucky that the school was not burnt down. The school was vandalised the previous week when eight windows were broken and we were in the process of getting these fixed when every window in the school was broken Monday morning." Mr O´ Confhaola said the teachers' room was also badly damaged. "After they broke in, they threw chairs out the windows and caused extensive damage. The strange thing is that they stole nothing. "The gardaí are very disturbed by the incident and they carried out an extensive forensic examination of the school over a number of hours yesterday. Estimating that the damage will cost over £4,000, Mr O´ Confhaola said he believes the attack was not racially motivated. “I doubt if the people involved know what goes on in the school. The disturbing aspect is that they came back again after carrying out damage the previous week and that also disturbs the gardai. "It is very stressful for everyone, including the children who will be asking why there will be no school until Thursday." Mr O´ Confhaola said it would be difficult to install alarms as the school is contained within prefabs. Meanwhile, a young African girl was yesterday recovering from a knife wound after being attacked near her Dublin home. The 14 year old girl, believed to be from Nigeria, was slashed across her fingers by a teenage girl from the area on Monday night. The victim was with some friends, also foreign nationals, when a row broke out with some local girls near her home at Birchwood Heights, Tallaght. The suspect has long blond hair and was wearing black tracksuit bottoms at the time. Gardaí are confident they know the culprit. “We’re following a definite line of inquiry. We have an idea who the culprit is,” said a garda source. But he said they could not say whether the attack was racially motivated or not. “We’re investigating it as an assault at the moment.” The girl’s injuries minor wounds to one of her fingers were treated at Tallaght Hospital. 
© Irish Examiner, 2000 |