Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 600: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount of funding she allocated to primary schools and secondary schools in 2006 for temporary accommodation facilities such as prefabs; the number of primary and secondary schools which were in receipt of such support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12614/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Expenditure on rental of temporary school premises for approximately 550 schools which includes the cost of renting prefabricated buildings in 2006 was €24.5m. To put this into context this represents less than 4.7% of the total expenditure on school buildings (some €525m) incurred in 2006.

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 the 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. In this regard, I recently announced an allocation of over €87m for building projects to over 250 schools to allow these schools to deliver additional capacity in both mainstream and special education rooms.