John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of portacabins being rented by primary and secondary schools in each of the past five years; the amount of rent paid for these portacabins in each of the past five years; the comparative cost of purchasing the equivalent number of portacabins; her views on whether the policy of renting portacabins gives the taxpayer value for money; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21342/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy in relation to the numbers of portacabins rented is not readily available. I am not in a position to provide a comparative cost of purchasing the equivalent number of portacabins in this instance. Expenditure on the rental of temporary school accommodation, is as follows: 2001: €6.1m; 2002: €8.4m; 2003: €9.4m; 2004: €11.3m; 2005: €15.7m. To put these figures in context, the Deputy may be interested to know that in 2005, expenditure on rental of temporary accommodation represented less than 3.2% of the total expenditure on school buildings (€501m).

The demand for additional accommodation in schools has risen significantly over the last number of 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 provision of rented accommodation provides an immediate solution to a deficit of school accommodation, and is often the only available option where extra accommodation is needed at short notice.

However, the current focus within my Department is to empower schools to resolve their accommodation needs, wherever possible by way of permanent accommodation. In order to reduce the amount of temporary accommodation at primary level a new devolved initiative was launched in 2003. The purpose of this initiative is to allow schools to undertake a permanent solution to their classroom accommodation needs and to achieve the best value for money. Since the introduction of the evolved initiative over 200 schools have been allocated funding under this scheme.