She was last seen at her home at 10.30am on Wednesday, February 16.

“She is described as being 5’3” in height with a slight build, blue eyes and brown hair,” said Alan Roughneen Sergeant.

He said: “When last seen she was wearing a school uniform consisting of a red and green chequered skirt with a green jumper, white shirt and red and green striped tie.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crumlin Garda Station on 01 6666200.

The owner of the house is a manager of a cash-in-transit company.

Gardai say the men escaped via the rear of the house after a neighbour reported the break-in which happened around 6.20pm.

After searching the area, Gardai found a jeep on fire on Hughes Road South. The Dublin Fire Brigade were called and, after the fire was extinguished, a firearm was found in the jeep. Gardai say the weapon is being sent for ballistic examination.

In a statement Gardai did not say how many men were involved, although reports say it was five men. They are being sought for burglary and false imprisonment.

“No one was injured in the incident. Gardai are appealing for witnesses to contact them in Crumlin on 01 6666200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station,” said Sergeant Brian Whelan of the Garda Press Office.

IMAGE: File picture. Some rights reserved by jaqian

View Crumlin ‘tiger kidnapping’ in a larger map

The Dublin City Council swimming pools were due to close in August if funds were not found.

With protests against the closures outside, councillors at the monthly meeting of Dublin City Council in April  unanimously passed a motion supporting standalone swimming pools in the city until these were replaced by regional sports and leisure centres.

Welcoming the decision, Cllr Aodhan O Riordain (Labour) said, “This will give councillors the opportunity to fight for their survival again during the estimates process. The pools were due to close this summer”.

O Riordain claimed the move vindicates the stance of the Labour Party councillors who secured €600,000 in last years budget to prolong the opening of the pools, despite he said that the closures were presented to councillors as an immediate proposal only a few short weeks previously.

He added: “This funding which we secured allowed councillors the necessary breathing space to find positive solutions to save the pools in the long term, and we are determined to do so in the next estimates process. There is no circumstance where I would stand over a situation where three pools in disadvantaged areas would be closed and city management can be assured of my co-operation in finding a long-term solution to the issue.”

When the pools were threaten with closure in April, a group against closure, Save Our Swimming Pools claimed the pools in the city have been deliberately neglected, and promises that the standalone pools would be replaced by leisure centres were now unlikely.

IMAGE: Photograph by sundancekid, some rights reserved.

The release includes 12 whole-school evaluations (WSE) of Dublin primary schools, one whole-school evaluation at post-primary level and 13 stand-alone subject inspections at post-primary level.

The department says whole-school evaluation reports look at the school’s management, planning and management of resources; the effectiveness of teaching and learning; its arrangements for student assessment, supports for students, provision for minority groups and home-school links.

Responses from a school’s board of management – if available — can be found at the end of reports.

Reports can be viewed here, a list of all the schools included are below:

Primary Schools

• St. Joseph’s National School, Tivoli Road, Dunlaoghaire
• St. Patrick’s BNS, Ringsend, Dublin 4
• St. Catherine’s NS, Donore Avenue, Dublin 8
• Zion Parish Primary School, Rathgar, Dublin 6
• Whitechurch NS, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16
• St Kevin’s Girls’ NS, Kilnamanagh, Dublin 24
• Scoil Íosa, Tymon North, Tallaght, Dublin 24
• St. Damian’s NS, Walkinstown, Dublin 12
• St. Audoen’s NS, Cook Street, Dublin 8
• Scoil Chaitríona na mBráithre, Baggott Street, Dublin 2
• Scoil Mhuire Senior National School, Blakestown, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15
• Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa, Ballygall, Dublin 11

Post-Primary Schools and Centres for Education

• Holy Family Community School, Rathcoole
• Newark Comprehensive School, Blackrock
• Meánscoil Chroimghlinne, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Stratford College, Rathgar, Dublin 6
• Templeogue College, Templeogue, Dublin 6W
• Terenure College, Terenure, Dublin
• Coláiste Dhúlaigh, Coolock, Dublin 17
• Coláiste Choilm, Swords
• Portmarnock Community School, Portmarnock
• St.Aidan’s Christian Brothers’ School, Whitehall, Dublin 9
• St.Mark’s Community School, Tallaght, Dublin 24
• Collinstown Park Community College, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
• Moyle Park College, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
• Tallaght Community School, Tallaght, Dublin 24

Three arrests were made when Gardai found what is described to be a sophisticated cocaine factory after searches in Tallaght, Walkinstown and Crumlin yesterday.

Gardai said they have seized cocaine with a potential street value of €200,000, subject to analysis, along with a substantial amount of cash. The drug seizure and arrests were made in the south inner city.

Two males and one female in their early 30s were arrested and are currently detained under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, at Kevin Street and Kilmainham Garda Stations.

The searches resulted from an intelligence driven operation, said Gardai. Investigations are continuing

Three males were arrested last night in Finglas as part of investigations surrounding the ‘tiger kidnapping’ of a Crumlin bank official on June 22.

Gardai stopped a  car in an apartment block off the River Road in Finglas, arresting two men (23 and 38) and recovering a sum of money.

The third man (70) was arrested after follow-up searches under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.

The bank official who was kidapped on Tuesday last was from the Kiltipper area of Tallaght, and all three of the men arrested are believed by Gardai to have been involved in his kidapping.

IMAGE: Tom Bradnock, some rights reserved.

Three council-run swimming pools in Dublin are to close in August unless extra money is found to run them.

Councillors at the monthly meeting of Dublin City Council on April 12 unanimously passed a motion supporting standalone swimming pools in the city until these were replaced by regional sports and leisure centres.

But city officials warned funding is only available up to August for the Coolock, Sean McDermott Street, and Crumlin swimming pools. Adding that user groups which have been approached to date were not in a position to “creditably” operate or fund the pools.

The motion also stated that the council should actively seek financial and grant aid from all funding agencies for assistance in the running and maintenance of the current pools

“It is particular important that we as a city are not made fools of and laughed at by closing three pools when this year we are supposed to be capital city of sport in Europe,” said Cllr Eric Byrne (Labour).

Cllr Larry O’Toole (Sinn Fein) reminded councillors, “As a council, we were the ones who did not find the money when setting the budget.”

At the time of the budget, €600,000 was set aside to run the pools for a six month period. City manager John Tierney said this funding was stretched out to last a further two months.

Councillors suggested a range of possible sources of funding, from the Minister of Sport and Lotto funding and community funds run by Dublin Bus and the GAA.

“The last thing we want to do is close swimming pools,” said Mr Tierney, pointing out that it had being a difficult budget and the compromise was to keep the pools open for six months, which is to be exceeded. He warned that the Government may ask local authorities to cut funding again in the coming year.

Mr Tierney said it would be “very difficult” to find funding.

He denied that the pools were being closed because they would not make profit, saying the council never expected to profit from this type of service.

Cllr Nial Ring (Ind) said he could not accept the figures of needed funding; saying a much lower amount of money was needed to run the pools. Although the city manager denied this, saying the councillor’s figures are wrong.

It was suggested by Cllr Bill Tormey (Fine Gael) that the “template” of the Garda Reserve could be used to good effect in running the pools. “Voluntarism in relation to security, voluntarism in relation to supervision.”

Cllr Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) said, “Not only will major plans for these areas go to the wall, now these swimming pools will too.”

Up to a hundred people protested outside City Hall on Dame Street, organisers of the protest said. The protesters were from community groups from the north inner city, Crumlin, and Coolock.

The groups, under the banner of Save Our Swimming Pools, claim the pools in the city have been deliberately neglected over the last decade, and maintenance was not carried out. Instead, promises were made that the standalone pools would be replaced by leisure centres as part of now-troubled public-private partnership deals.

IMAGE: Photograph by sundancekid, some rights reserved.