Permanent classrooms to replace prefabs in five North County schools – Farrell
Fine Gael Dublin North TD Alan Farrell, has welcomed the announcement by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, that five schools in the north county will have their prefabs replaced with permanent classrooms.
This is part of a national announcement which will see more than 91 schools around the country replace prefabs with permanent classrooms. This week’s announcement follows on from the provision of funding in March for the building of classrooms in 77 schools.
I believe that this will improve the quality of learning and education in these schools. The phasing out of prefabs in our schools was a commitment made in the Programme for Government. Approximately 6,000 students around the country will move from prefabs into permanent classrooms and resource rooms and I am delighted to see that students in Scoil Mologa, Balbriggan; The Naul National School; Scoil Phadraic Cailini, Donabate; Holy Family SNS, Swords & St. Teresa National School, Balbriggan will now be benefiting from this initiative.
For too long prefabs were chosen instead of building permanent classrooms in order to address the shortage of accommodation in our schools. There are many disadvantages to prefabs including rental and heating costs, not to mention the quality of the accommodation. The Department & the Minister have shown that despite the current economic climate, we are committed to investing in essential social infrastructure such as classrooms for our even growing north county population.
This investment by the Government will result in the creation of an estimated 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs across the country. The scheme will result in savings of approximately €5 million per annum on the rental of prefabs in these schools in coming years. The Government will spend €430 million on education infrastructure in 2012. While we are constrained by our ongoing economic challenges, education remains a top priority for this Government, as does ensuring that the children of Dublin North are taught in a more appropriate setting.
ENDS
SCOIL MOLOGA, BALBRIGGAN
1 X 80M2
THE NAUL NS
1 X 80M2, 2 X 25M2
SCOIL PHADRAIC CAILINI, DONABATE
3 X 80M2
HOLY FAMILY SNS, SWORDS
3 X 25M2
ST COLMCILLES BNS, SWORDS
2 X 25M2
ST TERESA NS, BALBRIGGAN
2 X 80M2