New schools cost less than prefabs, claims opposition

THE Government could fund dozens of new schools for less than the annual cost of renting prefab classrooms which cost taxpayers €85 million last year, opposition parties have claimed.

The figure was paid out by the Department of Education last year on prefabricated accommodation, including almost €53m spent on renting temporary rooms.

Labour’s education spokesperson Ruairi Quinn said the scandal of the situation is not just that thousands of children go through their primary education without being taught in a permanent building, but that the system makes no financial sense.