Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question 524 of 10 March 2009 the reason boards of management are responsible for acquiring temporary school accommodation and signing such contracts, but are barred by his Department from taking out mortgages in order to build permanent accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12265/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 524 on 10 March 2009, my Department provides grant aid towards the provision of temporary school accommodation to the management authorities of education providers where it is established that a need for such temporary accommodation exists.

School authorities are not barred from taking out mortgages to build accommodation. However, any proposal by a school authority to raise finance for which the State is to act as guarantor and/or fund the repayments needs to be closely examined as to its appropriateness in terms of Public Procurement Procedures and Public Financial Procedures generally.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of pupils at primary and second level schools throughout the country accommodated in temporary or unfit buildings; the extent to which plans are afoot to replace such structures; when such plans are expected to reach fruition; the number of instances in each of the past three years to date in which accommodation needs have been met in the first instance by way of permanent accommodation; the reason some schools are forced to accommodate staff and pupils in largely unfit temporary accommodation for up to 20 years while others do not; the reason for this disparity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12013/09]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 230: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children accommodated in temporary structures at primary and post primary level here; the number of national schools, scoileanna gaeilge, Educate Together or other schools so affected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12367/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 230 together.

The 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 and, in some cases, this has involved the provision of high-quality prefabricated structures to accommodate them.

In general, my Department approves the purchase or rental of prefabricated classrooms based on need at the time of application. Local school managements then organise their class numbers, year on year, to achieve the optimum local efficiencies. My Department does not hold information on the numbers of pupils in individual schools who currently occupy temporary accommodation; this depends on the organisation of class groups by schools within available accommodation and may vary from year to year.

Separately, my Department has surveyed almost 900 primary schools across the country regarding their use of rented prefabricated accommodation and is finalising the compilation of this information. The information gathered has been used to produce a database of information on rented prefabricated accommodation which will be maintained on an ongoing basis and will be used to inform my Department's future decision-making in this area.

Following analysis of costs in my Department, it is now practice to purchase rather than rent temporary accommodation where the need for such accommodation is likely to exist for more than three years. This will reduce the incidence of long term rental of prefabs. A review of rental policy is ongoing which will, inter alia, recommend improvements in the terms of rental contracts, for example, to incorporate buy out, buy back, rental costs and relocation options to suit individual local circumstances. Furthermore, the review will involve an investigation of all existing rental contracts between schools and suppliers with a view to identifying action to reduce overall rental costs for the Department.

In the meantime, schools proposing to rent temporary accommodation must seek competitive quotes from suppliers which should allow them to achieve optimum value for money in the current market circumstances.