Galway Bay fm newsroom - Over 30 primary and secondary schools across Galway are renting prefabs despite a Government commitment to begin phasing them out.
According to today's Irish Daily Mail almost 400 schools nationwide are renting prefabricated buildings.
The Department of Education's spend on renting prefabs for secondary schools nationwide has tripled since 2014 to 5.5 million euro.
This is despite a commitment made in 2015 under a government six-year plan, to eliminate the need for any school to use them as a long-term accommodation solution.
The cost for renting prefabs for primary schools has also increased with 10.7 million euro spent between 2014 and 2018 - an increase of over 2 million euro.
According to teacher groups, the need for adequate school accommodation is pressing due to the surge in pupil numbers expected in the coming years.
The Department of Education says that in the context of a 'rapidly increasing school population' its priority is to ensure every student has a school place and so it is sometimes necessary to make use of temporary accommodation.
