Rental bill for prefab classrooms hits €24m

THE Department of Education’s annual bill for renting prefabricated classrooms has increased five-fold from €4 million to more than €24m in just six years, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report reveals.

The bill has almost doubled between 2003 and 2006, the same period in which the purchase of prefabs fell from €25.8m to €3.5m. About 750 schools, mostly primary schools, were renting prefabs last year, at a cost of €24.5m.

From 2000 to 2006, the department spent €83.5m buying prefabs and other temporary accommodation, and €79.4m on temporary accommodation rents.

The €162.9m represents a little less than 6% of the total €2.7 billion school accommodation budget in those seven years.

The CAG’s John Purcell examined the value for money of renting prefabs after suggestions were made that it was not as economical as buying them.

“Based on discussions with the department, it quickly became clear that central records and aggregated data on rentals were not maintained,” he wrote.

This made it difficult for him to audit the entire system, but he examined sample schools where prefabs were being rented for long periods.

One school has been renting two prefabs since 1999 and three more since 2000 and had paid €487,000 in rent up to the end of last year.

In response, the Department of Education secretary general Brigid McManus said the policy for spending on prefabs depended on the availability of alternative accommodation and the likely time requirement.

Where a school was only provisionally recognised because of low numbers or where the need was short term because of a temporary rise in pupil numbers, the policy was generally to rent accommodation.

The department also highlighted the rise in accommodation needs in schools because of 4,636 extra teachers appointed for special education, language resource needs and reducing class sizes in recent years.

Ms McManus said the rental option became the favoured method of providing prefabs from 2003 on, based on experience in buying and relocating them.

The dismantling and reassembly of prefabs was rarely economically viable and only 37 prefabs were moved in the 2005/06 school year.

A department spokesperson said a review of its rental policy has begun and will address issues raised by the CAG’s report. He said the focus in recent years has been to avoid use of prefabs as much as possible.

“Under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme, schools are now offered capital funding to build extra classrooms rather than take prefabs. Where they’re used, the department is anxious to ensure value for money,” he said.