Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, for coming into the House to discuss this matter with me. I wish to raise the issue, or what many would regard as the growing problem, of prefabricated classrooms in schools, in addition to their unsuitability and cost. It is reckoned that a massive number of prefabricated structures are being used as classrooms in schools throughout the country. While they are supposed to be used in the initial stages of building projects and temporarily to facilitate demand, there is evidence to suggest the cost to the State of renting or part-leasing is multiples of what is first planned. Representatives of one school told me recently that they were disappointed and frustrated. They were in despair because permission was granted for a new school beside the existing Archbishop Ryan school in Lucan, which has a considerable number of prefabricated buildings. The school, like many others in the State, has served its community well. It has been serving the community in Lucan for over 30 years. Some 1,500 children are in prefabricated structures in the Lucan area, including Archbishop Ryan school.

I had a discussion recently with a principal in the Newcastle area in my constituency. I was told the principal's school had a two-storey prefabricated structure. This causes frustration.

I am conscious that the Minister was bequeathed a budget by the previous Government and he is expected to do wonders with what is a limited budget in the most difficult times. On a number of occasions I stated that during the Minister's first two years in office many schools had been granted extensions and permission for new buildings. Permission for nine has been granted by the Minister in my constituency. I have two questions for him. I ask him to consider arranging a special examination to ascertain the value for money of prefabricated buildings. Could the Government have a special building programme that would bring about job creation, in addition to banishing the dreadful prefabricated buildings? I acknowledge the wonderful work we have been doing in difficult circumstances. Considerable progress has been made in the Government's first two years in office, but, as part of the legacy the Minister has inherited, conditions are very unsatisfactory, including in many schools that have had prefabricated buildings for many years.

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