merrion street

The Minister for Education & Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today announced the biggest initiative ever undertaken to replace rented prefabs in schools.

Almost 200 schools will be offered grants to build permanent accommodation this year – over a third of all schools who currently rent prefabs.

The funding will be used to replace prefabs that are used to provide resource rooms and classroom accommodation for an estimated 6,000 pupils.

A total of €35 million has been allocated for this initiative in 2012.

Commenting on the new initiative Minister Quinn said: “It’s hard to believe that at the height of the economic boom the previous Government had a policy of renting prefabs in schools. 715 new rental contracts were agreed for primary schools in 2007 alone.

“The result of this policy is that we have a legacy of rented prefabs in schools around the country.

“The Government is determined to tackle this issue,” he said.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to reduce the reliance on rented prefabs in schools. This commitment was based on the work Minister Quinn did in opposition to highlight the significant current expenditure on rental of prefabs.

The new initiative announced today will result in savings of approx €5m per annum on the rental of prefabs in these schools in the coming years and will result in the creation of an estimated 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs.

This new initiative forms part of the Government’s €430 million education infrastructure plan for 2012.

This Plan will provide modern, high quality accommodation for pupils and teachers and construction related jobs for workers around the country.

Inclusive of this initiative an estimated 3,250 direct and 650 indirect jobs will be created this year through the Government’s investment in the School Building Programme.