The lawyer acting for three teachers who claim to have been made sick by mould at CedarBridge Academy has been told that the matter is now being dealt with by Government's chief legal adviser.

Paul Harshaw told that the only correspondence he had received from Government so far was an email from the Ministry of Education advising him that he would hear back in due course and a letter telling him that the Attorney General's Chambers was handling all matters relating to his clients.

Mr. Harshaw, of Lynda Milligan-Whyte & Associates, has been writing to the Government since last September on behalf of three female teachers from the school.

They all claim to have suffered ill health due to the mouldy environment which forced the closure of the Island's largest public school in November and have refused to return to work there since it reopened at the start of this year.

Two of the teachers have been temporarily placed in other schools and the third is on sick leave, awaiting the results of tests following surgery.

Mr. Harshaw said: "Government has never given me any substantive response to any of the complaints of my clients. I think the last letter I sent was in December. It's got quite disheartening writing letters that you know are going to be ignored."

The lawyer said the Ministry had never informed him what work was done to ensure the school environment was safe ? so his clients could not take the chance of returning.

"I don't know what remedial action they have taken," he said, adding that overseas specialists had identified two types of mould in the building.

He said one of his clients had medical proof that she had reacted to one of the moulds. "I don't have enough medical evidence on the other two clients to know what the precise cause of their affliction is.

"At the moment there is no way the clients can know if it is safe. It may be safe for one or two but not for the third."

He added: "They'd rather be back at CedarBridge. But as long as the Ministry puts them in different schools then they avoid the situation coming to a head. At the moment the teachers are not being financially disadvantaged."

He said his clients would sue if they had to undergo surgery as a proven result of the CedarBridge environment. "The teachers will have a good case against the school's board of governors and the Government."

Attorney General Philip Perinchief did not respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Government revealed this week that an independent review into how the mould catastrophe was handled has begun. A spokesman said the public would be updated on its progress at "the appropriate time".

The spokesman added that the Ministry of Education was still waiting to receive a report from consultants on how to maintain a healthy school environment following the clean-up of CedarBridge.

The school's Ruth Seaton James Auditorium remains closed but the spokesman said preliminary work on cleaning the area, which is sealed off, had begun.

Work has also started on checking the air quality at all the other public schools on the Island. The spokesman said the outcome of tests would be revealed at a later date.