User:rorynoonanDate:04/06/2013Time:08:28:19Edition:04/06/2013Tuetuesecho040613Page:1Color:
EE - V1
TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013
RRP: e1.50
EDITION NO. 34,929
Serving Cork for 120 years
e2.6m rent costs for school prefabs €2.6 MILLION has been spent on renting almost 200 temporary prefabricated classrooms to accommodate thousands of Cork pupils this year alone.
A total of 77 primary and secondary schools in Cork city and county rented 190 prefab classroom units this year, at a combined cost of €2.6 million. The total number of prefabs being rented at primary and post primary schools nationally is 1,548. The figure does not include the number of prefabs previously purchased by the Department of Educa-
Summercove NS has to accommodate 200 kids in units
By MARIA ROLSTON tion to provide longer-term temporary accommodation at schools. The Department has made the rental spend despite its plans to replace prefabs and move pupils into permanent school buildings by 2016. Under the Department’s Prefab Replacement Initiative and Five-year School Building Programme, announced in March 2012 and June 2012 respectively, a funding allocation of
more than €42 million was made to replace rented prefabs with permanent classrooms at 170 schools. This included 37 primary and secondary schools in Cork using prefabs for an estimated 6,000 pupils. The joint programmes are expected to result in national savings of approx €5 million per annum in rental fees. However more than half the Cork schools currently renting prefabs have not been given approval for replacement school buildings for a
range of reasons, including schools’ inability to accommodate the construction of a new build while the rented prefabs remain on site. One Cork school, Summercove National School in Kinsale — which uses 10 prefab units to accommodate 200 children alongside its original two-classroom school building — was in fact removed from the Department’s new building priority list earlier this year despite having been on it for 12 years. ● See page four for more.
Parents should look after their own children — not crèches
Michael Pattwell: Page 21
Summer Sale Now On! EVERYTHING REDUCED IN STORE LEON
Available in Black, Brown and Cream Was €199
Now €99
Tempo
Table & 6 Chairs
Runners at the start of the Cork City Marathon yesterday. See pages 6, 7 and Evening Echo Sport for more. Picture: Clare Keogh
04.06.13 Recommended retail price €1.50
Carol Anthony speaks on Ian Rush rumours — Page 3
Was €1299
Now €499
EZLiving EZ FURNITURE
CORK Northside Blarney Street T: 021-4393315 | Harbour Point Business Park, Little Island T: 021-4355506 Southside Industrial Estate T: 021-4316668 | Open: Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30 & Sun 2-5.30 WATERFORD Butlerstown Retail Park, Waterford T: 051-599036 | OPEN: Mon-Thurs 9.30-6 Fri 9.30-7 Sat 9.30-6 & Sun 12-6