Terrified children, some as young as six years old, crouched trembling under their classroom desks in fear as a violent storm ripped the roof off their school and posed a real threat to their lives.
There were highly dramatic scenes as they were then forced to flee from the hilltop building, leaving their belongings behind, as worried teachers rushed them to the relative safety of another classroom block in the seriously sub-standard school complex.
The trauma endured by the young children at Listellick Primary School was one of the most frightening incidents as Storm Darwin battered Kerry and left a trail of destruction in its wake.
Relieved Listellick principal Annette Dineen said it was very fortunate that nobody was hurt.
Staff noticed that the roof of the three-classroom prefabricated building was beginning to lift and told all the children to get under the tables in case it blew off.
The children caught up in the storm saga were first, second and third class pupils who were very frightened during the ordeal, according to staff who risked their own safety to save them.
The entire roof was whipped off the prefab shortly after fire service personnel and gardaí arrived at the school. Alarmed parents and a fleet of buses waited at the gates to ferry the children to safety as debris, whipped up by powerful gusts, smashed windows and ended up strewn along the schoolyard.
Listellick has been campaigning for a new school building for years but despite repeated pledges by successive governments, the 250 pupils and eight teachers are still housed in highly dangerous prefabricated units which offered little or no resistance to the recent hurricane force storms.
Classes are held in three separate buildings which include two prefabs purchased by the board of management several years ago to temporarily fill a void.
It now appears, however, that the long wait for a replacement building could soon be at an end. Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn, said it is his understanding that a site has now been acquired.
He said he would instruct senior officials in his department’s buildings unit to proceed to the design process as soon as possible.
