A shocking €100 million bill for renting school prefab classrooms was yesterday blasted as “farcical” and “disgraceful”.
The spending was racked up over six years to put children in decaying temporary structures – and taxpayers are footing the bill.
Dampness, cold, toxic asbestos and collapsing ceilings are just some of the reasons mobiles have been shuttered.
Yet the latest information received by Dublin Live shows renting prefabs for schools is still a central plank of the Government’s building programme.
The Department Of Education revealed in response to a Parliamentary Question to the party that it spent €85,762,955 renting mobiles from 2013 to 2018.
Even more will be spent this year.
Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said: “While there is a legitimate need for prefab accommodation for some schools due to renovations, or when a new school is being constructed, or there is a delay in construction, the notion it still forms part of the Government’s central plan is a disgrace.
“It is farcical to see we are going to have another generation of Irish children growing up with temporary prefabs as their abiding school memories.
“One of the boasts of Project Ireland 2040 is the replacement of 600 prefabs with proper buildings but it’s hard to believe when you see that 2019 will see another €19million spent renting the temporary shelters. Prefab school accommodation should only ever be a temporary measure.
“The costs revealed to me do not include things like heat and wastewater disposal for those prefabs, so I can only imagine the real costs of keeping our children housed in the schoolyards is much more.”
Education Minister Joe McHugh defended the Government’s spending on school infrastructure across Ireland.
He said: “In terms of progress being made on replacing temporary accommodation, construction work on large-scale and devolved projects in 2018 and 2019 is expected to facilitate the replacement of over 600 prefabs. This reflects the priority being placed on this as part of the rollout of Project Ireland 2040.
“In addition, since mid-2018 all schools approved for additional accommodation under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation Scheme are also having necessary prefabs replaced as part of their additional accommodation project.
“To date, approval has been granted to replace in excess of 128 prefabs with permanent accommodation and this number will continue to increase as further additional accommodation projects are approved.”
Prefabs have been condemned for years by teachers, politicians, parents and children.
They are considered completely unsuitable and have been notoriously difficult to heat and maintain.
Most schools are told by the Department of Education prefabs are only a temporary solution to hold lessons for children.
