Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 276: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of schools currently using prefabs as classrooms; and if she will provide a breakdown of same by county. [4006/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy is not readily available. However the Deputy can be assured that every effort is made by my Department to keep expenditure on prefabricated accommodation as low as possible. Where accommodation is needed at very short notice, however, a temporary solution can be the only option. Such accommodation may also be used where the need is short-term, such as when a school requires a temporary building while it is awaiting the completion of construction of permanent facilities.

During the period of the last National Development Plan 2000-2006, record levels of investment and the streamlining of delivery systems allowed a major acceleration of the school building programme with over €2.6 billion was invested in upgrading existing school infrastructure and providing new school accommodation at both first and second-level. This delivered over 7,800 building projects involving tens of thousands of extra permanent school places. This investment has helped to increase capacity and transform the standard of accommodation in many schools throughout the country.

The new NDP 2007-2013 will involve an investment of over €4.5 billion in school buildings. This funding will enable my Department to continue to take a proactive approach to the provision of modern school accommodation particularly in developing areas. Projects undertaken in 2007 alone will deliver over 1,500 projects which will ultimately deliver over 700 classrooms to provide permanent accommodation for over 17,500 pupils, mainly in developing areas. My Department will target funding, as appropriate, in order to ensure that additional school accommodation is provided in developing areas within the earliest possible timeframes.

Innovations in the delivery of school buildings such as Generic Repeat Designs and the use of the Design and Build model have been introduced to ensure that new school buildings are delivered in the fastest time-frame possible. Much greater authority has also been devolved to local school management boards to manage and deliver smaller building projects, thereby freeing the Department to concentrate on the larger scale projects.