Primaries squeezed for space as numbers soar
THE Government has admitted it is facing an unprecedented crisis in schools' accommodation as primary pupils numbers are set to top the half-million mark.
An internal Department of Education document makes the startling admission that a high proportion of existing school buildings are now in "quite poor condition" after decades of neglect.
This creaking primary school system will have to accommodate half-a-million pupils this September for the first time in 15 years.
And on top of the current pressures, the document concludes that around 2,300 extra classrooms will be needed over the next five years alone.
Many Irish towns now require dozens of extra classrooms, and the document adds that the total enrolment level could hit 555,000 in 2015.
The department wants to build more schools but given construction backlogs, cutbacks and budgetary pressures, thousands can expect to spend years in temporary accommodation.
Constraints
The Department of Education is locked into a short-term approach when it comes to providing school buildings because spending constraints mean it cannot purchase sites required in the long term.
The briefing document prepared for the new Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe, obtained by the Irish Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that in many of the areas with greatest need, "educational infrastructure is either not positioned to meet resulting demand for pupil places or, in many instances, it simply does not exist".
The document suggests thousands of pupils will be parked in prefabs, which are to be "purchased rather than rented" to save cash. The document admits that many bricks-and-mortar school buildings are now in "quite poor condition" after decades of short-term planning and neglect.
Increase
But the department's projections show that enrolment at primary level will increase by at least 20pc over the coming decade.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) contends that the accommodation crisis has already arrived, and not just in Dublin. For instance, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, needs almost 50 classrooms urgently.
Dealing with an increase of 10pc over the next decade --even with zero net migration and falling fertility rates -- will in itself be a "major challenge" according to the document.
Department officials argue that enrolment at primary level could rise by at least 20pc over the next 10 years, resulting in the need for 9,000 additional primary school places in the short term.
Under a title of "pressure on budgets", the document states the in a bid to cater for population increases, prefabs will be purchased rather than rented.
The Public Private Partnership process will also be used to ease pressure on the traditional capital budget.
"However, because funding for site acquisition for PPP projects comes from the standard schools accommodation budget, this is also a source of financial pressure in itself," the document states.
According to the department's projections, there will be an additional 58,000 pupils entering the primary school system over the next five years.
The main areas affected will be:
The east coast,
The greater Dublin area
A radius from South Cavan to Wexford and the midlands, suburban areas of Cork city, Galway, and Letterkenny.
Other "rapidly developing areas" where permanent school accommodation is required in the short- to medium-term includes east Meath (6,500 pupil places); south Louth and West Dublin (13,000 pupil places each); and Cherrywood in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown (5,400 pupil places).
Writing in today's Irish Independent, president of the INTO John Carr says that the crisis is already upon us -- and the challenge for the minister is to find a permanent rather than a temporary solution.
According to recently published figures, there are at least 41,000 pupils being taught in 2,253 prefabs in 900 schools countrywide.
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