The board of management of a primary school in Tralee, Co Kerry, has informed a language school which caters for Spanish and Chinese students learning English that it will not let space to them this summer.
The decision has been made because of fears over the SARS virus.
Father Thomas Leane, chairman of the board of management of St John's Primary School, Balloonagh, said the Eurolang school in Tralee had applied for the rooms from July, as it had done over the past two years.
However, the board had decided not to give it rooms this year because of the situation with the SARS crisis in China.
The board's first responsibility was to its own 700 pupils, and while the school would be closed to primary pupils during its use by the language school, a centre for autistic children remained open when the foreign students would be there.
It was with regret they had made the decision to refuse the application for rooms.
"We did not wish to be in any way alarmist. We wanted to give them time to find alternative accommodation," Father Leane said.
Mr Gerard Deasy, the director of Eurolang Ltd, who last year was forced to spend Christmas in China when authorities there held on to his passport, is back in China at the moment, in the Dalian area.
His passport was confiscated when a dispute arose with certain Chinese agents while he was on business for his language school. His papers were later returned, and he obtained full clearance to return to China.
Mr Deasy expects to bring into Ireland up to 60 language students from China in July. A strict screening programme was in operation to ensure the health of anyone leaving China, he said, and he did not anticipate problems.
Eurolang was yesterday seeking to assure the primary school that only Spanish students would be using its premises this summer, it is understood.
However, the board of management decision was expected to be final.