Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Good afternoon. You are very welcome to LiveLine. 51551 is the number for your text. You can send me an email, LiveLine at rte.ie or as always, give me a call on 0818 715 815. And Áine is on the line. Áine, are your kids currently in school?
No, all three are at home.
So where do they go to school? What part of the world?
The three of them go to school in Tullow. One is at primary school, the other two are at Creche. But I got a message from the primary school this morning at 9 o'clock and I decided not to send the other two into Creche then just to keep them all together.
What did the message from school say this morning?
Well, the one from Horace School said that due to precautions they were keeping
the school closed today but that was at 9 o'clock this morning and there was already kids at the school gone in because they opened the gates at 10 to 9 so they were already gone in and the parents were left like and they had to be called back to come and collect their kids but luckily I was having a crazy morning I hadn't went in yet So when you got that email did it elaborate at all on why the school was closing or just that it was going to close?
No, earlier this morning at half eight, I got a message, it was a mix-up, thinking it was my daughter's school that was closed and had received an email, but I realised it was a different school in Carlow. And then I was like, well, is my daughter's school going to be closed or what's happening here? I was actually thinking, will I just keep her at home?
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Chapter 2: What threats were reported to primary schools in Carlow?
I'm not sure what's wrong. So I just said that.
Yeah. Because a number, I think up to 10 schools, according to the latest reports now, it might be more by now, have either didn't open this morning or did open and then closed because of this email that they received overnight with this threat in it.
All three in Tullow now closed this morning. I don't know. I don't think any of them got the threat, but I think it was just precaution. All three the boys' school, the girls' school and the Columbus one closed this morning.
I mean, because I'm a parent and my kids are not at a similar age, Áine, and I assume the thing you have to try and work out is, well, you know, you could kind of fudge it today, but they're going to school tomorrow and somebody would have told their kids what actually happened. So she'll find out when she goes into school.
Yeah, well... if I don't get word by kind of a normal time to seem like before six o'clock, I won't be sending my child in tomorrow. I just, I wouldn't feel right doing so. Like, you know, if it's a last minute, oh, we're open tomorrow, I won't be sending her in.
And why? Because you still think that there's some sort of danger or just that there's an uneasiness or what is it?
Just the uneasiness and it's just like, You know, it can't be that sort of that quick. If they're going to tell me at six, sorry, like later on this evening or tomorrow morning that everything is OK, the school is going as normal tomorrow. It's like, well, why are you telling us last minute? Like, you know, I let her run out tomorrow and she'll stay home.
OK.
into the long weekend. A lot of them, I think, are closed Friday and Monday, or Friday and Tuesday, I think, a lot of schools. Anyway, I don't know if that's happening in Tullow. They often take a few days around the bank holiday weekend. So that might be an option for parents or something they avail of. I want to stay with this. Fergal Brown is on the line as well.
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Chapter 3: How did parents react to the school closure notifications?
But look at it, it's every day the learning day as I say and we'll learn from it and hopefully it won't happen again but if it does we'll be better prepared to deal with it.
I'm sure you'll probably appreciate it as well for, I mean... some parents, you know, and this is actually a totally rational way to react. You get an email or you get some notice on WhatsApp or you see a Facebook post saying somebody's threatened to blow up the school or shoot people at the school or do something like that.
But despite the fact that it's not real and we have no history of it in this country, you know, as a parent, your mind goes to the worst possible place, doesn't it? You can see why people would panic.
The purpose of the email is to cause maximum confusion and chaos in the area they target, you know. But hopefully the guards will find out who's behind the email and take appropriate action then. Because it does cause huge things at 80 and especially kids with special needs who are coming to school and their days are disrupted then, buses are delayed and all this stuff.
It's very unfair on the kids. So right across the board, mainstream and special needs. But look, hopefully it won't happen again and
Stay with us there, Fergal, because Denise is on the line. Denise, did it cause anxiety in your house today, all of this?
A little bit, yeah. It's more kind of mayhem, really, to be honest with you, because both myself and my husband are self-employed, so it's a bit of, you know, our day is kind of put out, like I'm meant to be down in Cork, and my husband runs the cafe here in St. Willans, so... And our childminder, ironically, is actually on holidays for the week, so...
Yeah, just a little bit of coordination was needed this morning to sort out some childcare. But look, Cullen is happy. He doesn't really know what's going on. He's five. He's running around here in the sunshine having an ice cream. But yeah, it's a bit of an inconvenience to say the least.
Yeah, I'm sure it is. How did it unfold for you this morning? When did you find out or how did you find out?
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Chapter 4: What information did the Gardaí provide regarding the threats?
Yeah, look, most parents are very concerned, which is understandable. We're still waiting for proper information from the guards. I only spoke to them there a few minutes ago and they're still working away. No more information has come in from whoever sent the email. So they're just working away.
But obviously something like this has to be taken very seriously until they know for certain that it is, we say, if it is a prank.
Yeah, which is why it's such a malicious prank then, if that's what it turns out to be, isn't it? Because you kind of have to take it sufficiently seriously.
Yes, and I said that to the guards as well, because at the end of the day, as Fergal Brown will know, You know, you're dealing with children at a school. You're terrifying parents. There's children missing out on school tours. There's children with special needs that are going to be greatly upset as well about not being able to go into school with their routines and all that.
And it's a terrible, terrible thing for anybody to do this if it is a prank. But this has to be taken extremely seriously because we cannot ever in this country put one child in danger.
Yeah, and again, there's no evidence any children were in danger. And I think it's worth kind of pointing out, like, you know, the advice that Fergal got at their school did get an email from the Gardaí was that it was safe to open. I mean, it's fair to think, Arl, isn't it? The guards wouldn't have said that if they thought that there was even a sliver of a threat to a child.
Yeah.
But we just don't know. Obviously, I can't speak for the guards, but we just don't know. But it has to be taken extremely seriously. Do you know what I mean? Just in case, you know?
Yeah. Is there a value in what, you know, what Fergha was talking about, that you just have a protocol then? If this is very easy to do and, you know, it's happened at Antrim, it happened in other parts of the North a few months ago, Antrim was last week.
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