Most students who have come through the Irish primary and secondary school system over the past number of decades will almost certainly have experienced classes in prefabricated buildings.

We didn't get sufficient support for this investigation through crowdfunding but we used the money raised (€55 of the proposed €2,035) to research an idea for a news article on this issue in order to enable our colleagues at The Journal to report new data obtained through a parliamentary question response.

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Prefabs are difficult to heat and maintain, with poor ventilation, and have long been condemned by teachers, parents and students themselves, well before the pandemic struck. Yet, as of January 2021, one in 10 schools were still teaching students in rented prefab classes.

And the taxpayer is on the hook. Between 2013 and 2019, over €100 million was spent on rental of prefabs, buildings and land by the State to meet additional classroom space needs.

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We want to investigate how many students are currently educated in temporary classrooms and speak to health experts about the potential impacts on students' wellbeing.

We want to pinpoint the schools with the longest history of prefab use, how much the State is spending on them and what has stalled progress with more permanent solutions to date.

If you want to make a contribution to help this investigation happen, click the 'Fund This Proposal' button. Noteworthy investigations are sourced from and crowdfunded by the public.

You can contact us at [email protected] and find out how we work here.