Five sets of twins join seven other sets already in school

There must be something in the water out Moycullen way with no less than five sets of twins starting school – joining seven other sets already there.

Teachers at Scoil Mhuire in Moycullen will most definitely be seeing double this year with three sets joining the class of teacher Nessa Bohan and two sets under the tutelage of Julie-Ann Brown. They could well be the highest number of twins starting in any junior infants class in the country.

None of the twins among the 56 pupils joining the school this year are identical.

Principal Terry Kavanagh said they continue the school’s rich history of twins.

“We will have twelve sets now altogether. We have a set of identical twins in fifth class and another set of identical twins in sixth class and I just can’t tell the difference, even after all these years,” he exclaimed.

All the twins come from local families and some knew each other before beginning school last Wednesday. They will all play together at break time in the infants’ playground.

The numbers at the school have been steadily increasing since the school opened in 1978. Many students now have to attend classes in the five prefabs on site due to the lack of space – some of them operating for 16 years.

The building is currently on the 2019-2021 school building phase which aims to get rid of prefabs across the country.

“It can’t happen soon enough. We’re keeping our prefabs going but they’re well past their sell-by date. We’ve been engaging with the Department on whether there will be a complete rebuild, renovation or extension, we don’t know at this stage.”