€10m spent on temporary school accommodation in Navan

A call to the Department of Education and Science to honour its commitments to the existing primary schools in the Navan and Johnstown areas before considering the construction of a proposed new school, has been made by the Navan and Johnstown Schools Development Group. The group said that the total expenditure on non-permanent accommodation in the town was almost €10 million. The group has said it is not in opposition to Meath VEC which has been appointed sponsor of a new community national school for the Johnstown area by the Minister for Education but is questioning the Department's policies on primary education for the town. The development organisation, made up of principals and board of management chairpersons of existing schools, said that a comprehensive survey of the existing accommodation stock showed "startling results". Four schools were using rooms constructed in the 1800s, it said. There were two schools which were last refurbished in the 1960s; five schools were completely housed in temporary accommodation; there were prefabs in every school, some over 30 years-old; annual rental fees for prefabs were €577,105; recent refurbishment (including prefabs) cost €4,097,000; and total expenditure on non-permanent accommodation was €9,866,105. "Is this obscene waste of taxpayers' money on rented accommodation to continue?" the group's spokesperson Cllr Jenny McHugh asked. "Does it make good economic sense to impose on Navan and Johnstown another school in temporary accommodation to fulfil a need that doesn't exist at the present time while there is an existing need - and approved by the Department of Education and Skills - for two new sites, 116 classrooms and in excess of 30 ancillary rooms, two schools for children with special needs and a more urgent need for a second-level school?" The group called on Minister for Education and Skills Mary Coughlan to look at the schools provision in Navan and Johnstown areas and fulfil the commitments to the existing schools "before any more of the taxpayers' money is wasted on any proposed new school".