Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 547: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the cost of renting prefabricated buildings in 2005; and the breakdown of such costs on a county basis. [13526/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Expenditure on rental of temporary school premises, which includes the cost of renting prefabricated buildings, in 2005 was €15.75 million.

The breakdown of costs is not readily available in the format requested by the Deputy as the financial records which are maintained in respect of payments made to school authorities for rented temporary accommodation are recorded on a monthly basis and are not recorded on a county basis. However, if the Deputy wishes to request details on the annual cost of rented school accommodation in a specific school or county, my officials will provide the required information.

The expenditure on rental of prefabricated buildings represented less than 3.2% of the total expenditure of €501 million on school buildings in the same period. The demand for additional accommodation in schools has risen significantly in recent years, mainly due to the rapid expansion in teacher numbers, particularly in the area of special needs, the growth in the school-going population in rapidly developing areas and the demands to cater for diversity through the recognition of new Gaelscoileanna and Educate Together schools.

The current focus within my Department is on empowering schools to resolve their accommodation needs by way of permanent accommodation wherever possible. To reduce the amount of temporary accommodation at primary level a new initiative was launched in 2003. The purpose of this initiative is to allow primary schools to undertake a permanent solution to their classroom accommodation needs and to achieve the best value for money. The feedback from the 20 schools in that pilot initiative was very positive and the initiative was expanded to 44 primary schools in 2004. Over 70 schools were invited to participate in the initiative in 2005 and 75 schools were invited to participate in what is now known as the permanent accommodation scheme in 2006.