Minister O'Keeffe slashes school prefab rental contracts to just 20 [education.ie]
- Published: 22 February 2010
'Radical policy reforms cut prefab rental bill by €14m' - Minister
The number of rental contracts agreed for school prefabs was slashed last year to just 20 compared to 266 the year before, according to the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD.
And in 2007, 715 new prefab contracts were agreed between suppliers and school boards of management.
The revelation comes following Minister O'Keeffe's announcement last week that 23,500 places would be created in 20 new schools and 32 extensions as part of the Government's €579 million school building programme.
'My priority is to cut the incidence of long-term prefab rentals and to keep building new schools and school extensions,' said Minister O'Keeffe.
By the end of last year, 557 schools had been approved funding to buy a prefab with the option of building a permanent classroom.
Of that, 249 schools indicated that they will buy a prefab and 201 will use the grant aid to build a permanent classroom.
Full Story: www.education.ie
