Senator Mary Moran has welcomed the announcement by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, that €15 million has been allocated for 2013/2014, to replace 115 prefab classrooms in forty six schools, and will provide permanent resource rooms and classrooms for some 2,650 students throughout the country.

Senator Moran said: "The initial prefab replacement initiative announced last year providing for the replacement of 458 prefabs has been a great success with €23.6 million spent to date, thirty projects completed and a further one hundred on site. This further announcement will be a win-win situation for everyone, and will result in schools having better accommodation for students, and will provide savings for both schools and the Exchequer. Indeed savings of almost €5 million per annum will be achieved under the previous initiative and a further €2 million will be saved when this initiative is completed. It will reduce the number of rented prefabs in our schools by 570 – a 37% reduction over just two years. This latest initiative will also provide an estimated 300 direct and 60 indirect jobs.

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"This welcome announcement comes just days after the announcement of twenty eight major school building projects following the additional €50 million secured by the Department of Education and Skills as part of the ‘Investing in Infrastructure and Jobs' package."

(CD/MH)