IT cost 5.5m to build is brand new and boasts state-of-the-art light-filled classrooms.

But the first pupils entered St Mary´s Parish Primary School in Drogheda Co Louth yesterday to the familiar sound of a hand-rung school bell.

"Our electronic bell isn´t working yet " explained principal Phillip Ward who was surprisingly unruffled despite welcoming 49 staff and the first of the school´s huge 988 pupil population.

The new school is an amalgamation of two other Drogheda schools -- Fatima Girls´ National School and Congress Avenue Boys´ School -- and yesterday´s opening was the culmination of 16 years of work by both schools and the parish.

Staff and students from both schools have now moved to the biggest primary school in Ireland on a seven-acre site at Bryanstown Drogheda.

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