The Minister for Education & Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today announced the biggest initiative ever undertaken to replace rented prefabs in schools.  Almost 200 schools will be offered grants to build permanent accommodation this year – over a third of all schools who currently rent prefabs. The funding will be used to replace prefabs that are used to provide resource rooms and classroom accommodation for an estimated 6,000 pupils. A total of €35 million has been allocated for this initiative in 2012.

Commenting on the new initiative Minister Quinn said: "It's hard to believe that at the height of the economic boom the previous Government had a policy of renting prefabs in schools. 715 new rental contracts were agreed for primary schools in 2007 alone.  
"The result of this policy is that we have a legacy of rented prefabs in schools around the country.  "The Government is determined to tackle this issue," he said. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to reduce the reliance on rented prefabs in schools. This commitment was based on the work Minister Quinn did in opposition to highlight the significant current expenditure on rental of prefabs.
 
The new initiative announced today will result in savings of approx €5m per annum on the rental of prefabs in these schools in the coming years and will result in the creation of an estimated 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs. 
This new initiative forms part of the Government's €430 million education infrastructure plan for 2012.  This plan will provide modern, high quality accommodation for pupils and teachers and construction related jobs for workers

Criteria for selection for inclusion in this initiative
*Prefabs must be rented for a minimum period and be required for the long term i.e. any major project for the school is unlikely to be completed in the short to medium term or, if it is, the construction of the new classrooms will not hinder the extension and will reduce the scope of works required. 

*School site must be sufficiently large to accommodate construction of permanent build while continuing to use rented prefabs.

*Permanent accommodation should be stand alone.

*Maximum grant will be €110,000 for a standard classroom and must cover all fees, local authority contributions, site works etc.

 
Schools who would not qualify  
There are a number of schools who do not qualify for this scheme, these include:
Schools currently in rented prefabs on rented sites. 
Schools where their site would not accommodate the construction of new build while the rented prefabs remain on the site.
Schools who would wish to have work done to the existing building as part of any extension.
 Press Release Source

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