Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Instead, where possible, grants are provided to schools under my Department's permanent accommodation scheme which enables schools deliver a permanent solution to their accommodation requirements. More than 140 schools are being dealt with in this way. It is impossible to eradicate the need for prefabs, as schools often come to my Department with only a few months notice of the need for extra accommodation for the next school year. Prefabs can be the only option in some cases. Nonetheless, the amount spent on prefabs by my Department is kept to an absolute minimum. Over the past five years, expenditure on temporary accommodation represented approximately 4% of the total capital expenditure on school buildings. Last year, it was less than 1.5%.

We do all we can to provide extra permanent accommodation rather than prefabs where possible. Where schools are in prefabs because they opened with temporary accommodation in that environment, we work hard to meet their accommodation needs in a permanent way as soon as possible after they have proven their viability and received permanent recognition as a school.

See this speech in context