The Dáil’s public monitoring body was informed that nearly €282 million was spent on acquiring modular buildings for schools in the previous year. The Department of Education’s secretary general, Bernie McNally, defended the expenditure on renting and buying prefabricated or modular units for schools during her testimony before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). She vehemently dismissed criticisms suggesting that school planning had been inadequately managed.
Ms McNally commented that the occasional need for temporary lodging arises due to population increases or various other factors. In 2021, there was €29 million spent on leasing modular units, which rose to €41 million in 2022 and reached €43 million in recent times.
In 2021, she revealed, nearly 396 schools had been renting prefabricated buildings for over five years, a number which had decreased to 219 as of the preceding month. Last year’s expenditure on modular units reached approximately €281.9 million, according to Ms McNally.
She emphasised the international recognition and support for utilising contemporary construction techniques, ensuring value for money and positive contributions to the environment. Much of the modular infrastructure, she noted, has permanent status.
Subsequently, Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin referred to the amount spent on leasing and buying prefabs as staggeringly high, suggesting that the department might invest in constructing more durable facilities.
Hubert Loftus, an official from the Department of Education, commented that rentals accounted for a relatively small 4 percent of the department’s capital programme. He stated that procuring modular units is a critical component of the delivery system and that the Government’s policy is to enhance the capacity of modern construction methods. He further highlighted the climate-friendly solutions, including timber-framed modular options, that the department’s framework is proud to offer.
Issues surrounding the pressure to secure placements in secondary schools were earlier brought forward by Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who criticised the inadequate forward planning protocols evident in his Wicklow constituency.
In response, Ms McNally acknowledged, “I fully recognise the concerns of families nationwide.”
Paraphrasing the original text: Whilst it has been noted that the State is segmented into 314 education planning sectors, the occurrence of problems in roughly 10 of these annually is considered “typical”. The current schooling system accommodates nearly a million children and youth, with the greater part of them securing school placements without complications.
Mr Brady, however, contended that the planning process was essentially flawed, and presented an instance in which a lad waiting for a high school placement confirmation was seeing his mates already enrolled.
Ms McNally conveyed her sympathy towards the young man’s situation, but implored that the method is generally successful. “Our team puts in a great deal of effort. In an ideal scenario, we would manage to register every student much ahead in the academic year” she voiced, outlining the department’s expectation of resolving the situation in the subsequent weeks.
In response to Mr. Brady’s claim of “recurrent departmental failure” dealing with school placement challenges, Ms McNally respectfully expressed her disagreement.