Heating oil stolen from local school

Dunsany National School has been left counting the cost after a full tank of oil worth €700 was stolen from the school last week. 

Principal Catherine Bockett explained that they check their oil every week and ordered a fill after noticing it was low. The fill of oil costing €700 was delivered last Monday. When the heating didn't come on as usual on Friday, the school thought there was a problem with the boiler and called an electrician only to discover the oil had been siphoned out. The theft has been reported to Gardai.

Ms Bockett said the oil lorry would have been visible from the road while delivering and explained the culprits had to negotiate security railings, stood on top of tank which was caged in and forced the locks before inserting the pump. 

"We've been told they are are using 12 volt pumps which are easily bought. They insert it in after prising the lock and would be done and dusted in 10 minutes."

"Our oil man came back on Friday with some oil to keep us going. He felt they may have been there the previous week. We routinely dip it on Mondays and thought it had gone down quite quickly. They may have siphoned out a good bit last week forcing us to make an order. We had a the tanked caged in but obviously it is not impenetrable."

It is the second time that the school has had a fill of oil stolen- the last occasion was in January 2010. Ms Bockett has contacted other schools in the area to make them aware of the latest incident.

"It is so annoying when the children of the school are working for the good of others. They will be singing in the Knightsbridge nursing home this week and we are trying to teach the children good ideals and then a carry on like this happens."

However, Ms Bockett said there has been great goodwill from the parents and they have been inundated with offers of help.