asked the Minister for Education the substance of the report or reports made by his inspector on the outbreak of illness at Rush National School, County Dublin.
Written Answers. - Rush (Dublin) Pupils' Illness.
253.
The inspector's report dealing with the outbreak of illness on 3 May 1979 was a narrative account of developments based on information acquired by him through interviews with persons involved.
It was stated that some pupils became ill about lunch-time on Thursday, 3 May 1979 and by 3 p.m. a large number of the children felt ill. They were treated by local doctors and a doctor from the Eastern Health Board also visited the school. By 4.30 p.m. all the children with the exception of 17 felt sufficiently recovered to be able to be sent home. The remaining 17 children were sent to hospital on Thursday evening. On Friday morning a further two children were sent to hospital.
I may add that on 17 May 1978 there was a recurrence of the illness. It is understood that 16 children were affected and that 12 of the 16 had felt ill also on the pervious occasion on 3 May. The majority of the children had fully recovered during the day but a small number still felt unwell on Friday morning.
The school was closed for the week 21-25 May 1979 and responded on Monday 28 May.