merrion street

77 schools around the country have been given the green light to replace rented prefabs with permanent classrooms.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn announced the first round of approvals for schools in an initiative to replace rented prefabs with permanent accommodation.

77 schools around the country have been given the green light to replace rented prefabs with permanent classrooms.

Those schools are expected to be approved in coming weeks in the biggest ever initiative to replace rented prefabs in schools.

Minister Quinn said,

Too many of our children and young people spend their school days in rented prefabs.  I am delighted that we are now making progress on our Programme for Government commitment to phase out the inefficient renting of prefabs.

As a result of this €35 million programme approximately 6,000 pupils will move from prefabs into permanent classrooms and resource rooms.

The scheme will also create an estimated 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs, a welcome boost for the construction industry.

It will result in savings of approximately €5 million per annum on the rental of prefabs in these schools in coming years.