Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his proposals to reduce and eventually eliminate the heavy reliance, particularly by primary schools, on prefabricated rooms for temporary classroom accommodation and other purposes; his views on the suitability or otherwise of prefabs in inclement weather conditions for these purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20726/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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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, my Department has prioritised putting the extra teachers into schools as soon as possible. This in many cases meant that the quickest way of providing accommodation was through prefabricated units. Where it was possible to provide permanent accommodation, this was done by using the Permanent Accommodation Scheme, for example. While the ideal solution is to provide permanent accommodation, where this is not possible, modern prefabricated units conform to health and safety regulations and are suitable for use as school accommodation in Ireland. Against this background, my Department has nonetheless managed to keep expenditure on temporary accommodation low. When the rental and purchase of temporary accommodation is taken together, it still only comes to 6.2% of overall investment in school buildings last year.