A school in Dublin has been forced to ask parents to put extra layers of clothing on their children because the heating is broken.

Our Lady of the Wayside National School in Bluebell has had a broken boiler for around 5 weeks but it does not have the €300 needed to fix it.

Principal Anne McCluskey says although it is a minor repair that the school finances are "catastrophic".

Call for Minor Works Grant

She has said the Department of Education has to look at re-instating the Minor Works Grant for an emergency such as this.

The school does receive additional grants as it is classified as a disadvantaged DEIS band 1 school.

However the principal says that these are simply still not enough to cover even basic running costs.

She also believes that the issue of parents giving a financial contribution to the school is simply not an option as they already volunteer in the school in terms of gardening and making some repairs.

She says parents simply do not have the cash to make funds available.

Speaking to Breakfast here on Newstalk Principal McCluskey explained how they are trying to keep children warm in school until the heating is fixed.