Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 343: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the cost to her Department of the rental of temporary school accommodation in 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15339/08]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 344: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the cost to her Department of the purchase of temporary school accommodation in 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15340/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 343 and 344 together.

My Department spent €4.3m on the purchase and €35.5m on the rental of temporary accommodation in 2007. The Deputy will be aware that demand for additional accommodation in schools has risen significantly over the last number of years, with the appointment of 6,000 extra teachers in the primary sector alone since 2002. In considering the need to provide extra resource and other teachers to schools in recent years, the Government could have decided to make children wait until permanent accommodation could be provided. However, we prioritised putting the extra teachers into schools as soon as possible. Against this background, my Department has nonetheless managed to keep expenditure on temporary accommodation low.

It should be noted that the amount spent on rental and purchased accommodation in 2007 was only 6.2% of the total investment in school buildings in 2007. This compares with 10.8% in 2003. It should also be noted that temporary accommodation is not limited to prefabs and can also involve the rental of high quality buildings.