Spending on school prefabs has increased by 300 per cent since 2002, according to new figures from the Department of Education.
This has prompted a claim from Fine Gael that the money would have been better spent on permanent rather than temporary facilities. More than €70 million was spent on temporary structures for schools between 2002 and 2006, up from €8 million to over €24 million last year.
Currently, 750 schools are renting prefabs. Prefabs are rented by the Department of Education if it anticipates the schools will need the accommodation for three years or less. They are bought if the department expects they will be used for the longer term.
The figures were released to Brian Hayes, Fine Gael spokesman on education and science, after he tabled a parliamentary question to Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
Mr Hayes said taxpayers' money would have been better used on providing permanent school buildings.
"This is yet another example of public money being squandered due to a lack of planning from Fianna Fáil in government. Directly as a result of a lack of planning from the Minister and her colleagues, new schools and buildings have not been provided, leaving an accommodation deficit that is being filled by spending millions on prefabs."
A spokeswoman for the department said the average spend on school building projects was €500 million a year for the last four years and the amount spent on prefabs was small overall.
