Prefabs in half of Dublin schools

ALMOST half of Dublin’s primary schools are teaching pupils in prefabs and some have been looking for permanent buildings to replace them for the past 40 years, according to a Fine Gael survey.

The findings show one-in-five classes in the capital are taught in prefabs, which the party’s education spokesman Brian Hayes said suggests this is the base of more than 100,000 pupils and highlights the dire situation facing children, teachers and parents.

More than 170 primary schools responded to the questionnaire and about two of every five was waiting for new buildings. Some schools have been using prefabs as temporary accommodation for 40 years.

Max Cannon, principal of the 480-pupil Holy Rosary Primary School in Tallaght, said the school was opened in 1985 in what was supposed to be a temporary building. But spiralling numbers have seen the Department of Education instead putting in seven prefabs over the past six years.

“There is nothing essentially wrong with prefabs, but when they are described as temporary accommodation, that’s what they should be used as, instead of the department thinking of prefabs as a solution,” he said.

An initiative announced by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe at the weekend will allow schools use grants for temporary accommodation to build permanent classrooms, with the intention that builders could offer to do the work on the same budget as buying or renting prefabs.