Just one Offaly school to have prefabs replaced

Just one school in Offaly - Oxmantown NS in Birr - is on a list of just under 200 schools nationwide that are to have their rented prefabs replaced with permanent structures. The initiative, announced by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn last Thursday, will see the Birr school get grant aid to replace its existing prefab classrooms. A spokesperson from the Department of Education said this week contact has been made with all schools on the list and the process of replacing the prefabs will begin immediately. Local Fine Gael TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy welcomed the announcement this week, saying it's something her party has been calling for since the height of the boom. "I am delighted that Oxmantown school in Birr as well as four schools in Laois will finally be able to build permanent, start-of-the-art classrooms, after so many years of wasting a huge amount of money renting prefab classrooms, which could have been put towards other vital education services," she said. "For many years during the height of the boom, Fine Gael consistently called for this serious waste of money, which was spent on renting prefabs, to be addressed. Despite the massive amount of spending that went on during the boom, the previous Government did nothing to address this. Instead they continued renting prefabs; in 2007 alone, 715 new rental contracts were signed." The new prefab replacement scheme will affect 188 of the 586 schools currently renting prefabs nationwide, and approximately 6,000 pupils. The €35m project is also expected to result in savings of €5m per year and will create approximately 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs. Birr town councillor Michael Campbell also welcomed the news this week, saying it's an example of identifying where money is being wasted.