SCHOOL PROTEST: A Co Wicklow school catering for children with special needs is in danger of losing planning permission for its urgently needed building project if the Department of Education fails to give immediate clearance for work to begin.

Marino School, Bray, is a specialist school run by Enable Ireland catering for up to 50 children with cerebral palsy and other serious physical and mental disabilities. In 1992, the school applied for major repair and an extension to its building, then listed as seriously substandard.

Following a lengthy campaign by the school, the Department of Education granted approval to the project and planning permission was secured in 1999. The school authorities and the parents' association became concerned about the delays in moving the project to tender stage last year, says Harry Sterling of the parents' association, but to date the Department has given them no indication of when work can start.

The increasing dilapidation of the school buildings has forced pupils and teachers to move into a second-hand prefab on the school grounds. Last Wednesday, parents, pupils and more than 250 supporters took to the streets of Bray to protest at the lack of movement by the Department.

"We still have no indication when the Department will give us the signature we need to go to tender. We've had promises but very little action," Sterling says.

Wednesday's protest was a last- resort measure, he says. "We have enough on our plates without having to go out and protest, but we're prepared to keep going."