IPPN

Published: 30 April 2009

Source: independent.ie

By Katherine Donnelly

Thursday April 30 2009

THE Department of Education has wasted €450,000 on a school prefab bought six years ago -- but which was then abandoned to vandals.

The state of the art six-classroom unit, purchased in 2003, has been reduced to rack and ruin and written off by the department after less than three years' use .

The department has blamed a dispute with a developer and the cost of security or storage for the neglect of the pre-fab in Swords, Co Dublin.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) criticised it as "a waste of taxpayers' money".

The prefabricated building has been rendered completely unusable, most recently suffering fire damage, and has become a haunt for drinking parties.

Destroyed

As a result, the Department of Education last year forked out another €230,000 each to two primary schools -- one the original tenant in the destroyed pre-fab -- to allow them buy more temporary accommodation at their new temporary home just a couple hundred yards away on the same stretch of land.

The prefab was one of two six-classroom units with ancillary rooms, costing €450,000 each, which were bought to accommodate Swords Educate Together and Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe at a joint site at Applewood, Swords, in 2003.

The rapidly expanding primary schools were awaiting permanent accommodation to be built on the same site, which was owned by the property development company Gannon Homes.

Both schools vacated their prefab when, according to the Department of Education, "in order to progress the developer's plans for that site, the developer offered a temporary adjacent site including temporary accommodation to accommodate the two schools from Sept 2006".

Needs

One of the six-classroom units was relocated to Donabate/Portrane Educate Together school for September 2007 to meet its increasing needs.

The other was due to be moved to the schools' new temporary site just a few hundred yards away in order to meet future needs of both Swords schools.

However, it wasn't moved and by early 2008 had become the target of vandals.

The department added: "Given the exposed nature of the site, it proved very difficult to secure the unit. Providing a security service or storing the units elsewhere were not considered to be cost-effective options."

INTO general secretary John Carr said: "This money was spent on the prefabricated building which was in use for less than three years.

"Instead of this accommodation being re-used when the school using it was moved, it was left to go to rack and ruin until it was completely vandalised.

"This contrasts sharply with the cutbacks being imposed on primary schools for essential funding and staffing."