Three quarters of the €500 million plus allocated to the school-building programme for this year has not yet been spent, the Labour Party has claimed.
According to the party's education spokeswoman, Jan O'Sullivan, this means there are hundreds of schools around the country who are being forced to operate out of prefabs, sports clubhouses, scout dens and private houses. "More than half of the year is gone already, so we would expect that at least half of the money has been spent. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth," she said.
"According to information I have obtained, the total budget for school building programme is €506 million for this year. So far only €136 million has been spent.
"Particularly with multi-annual funding, this should not be the case . . . I have lost count of the number of schools who have approached me to outline the problems they are having as a result of having to operate out of unsuitable premises."
However, the claims drew a strong response from Minister for Education Mary Hanafin yesterday, who accused her of "playing politics" by "misleading" schools that money will not be spent on vital school buildings.
Her department anticipates that the €506 million allocated to new buildings, and to upgrading and modernising facilities in primary and post-primary schools, will be spent by the end of this year, she said. The pattern of expenditure for this year is consistent with last year, where all capital funding allocated in 2005, as well as €50 million carried over from the previous year, was spent on capital projects in schools.