648 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science the cost to his Department of renting portacabins in schools throughout the country where they are used as substitutes for permanent structures. [8175/02]

Expenditure on the rental of temporary accommodation for primary schools in 2001 was €6.04 million. The provision for 2002 is €6.205 million. This provision covers grant-aid to schools towards the rental of interim accommodation and no breakdown is made between categories of accommodation, including portacabins.

Provision for the rental of interim accommodation in respect of second-level schools is made in the overall capital budget for that section. Accordingly, no separate data for expenditure on rented accommodation is available.