Ms Nessa White:

Yes. I had taken note that I had not answered Deputy Martin’s questions. Last Tuesday was very good evidence of why going out to meet people in the ETBs is very good. I was invited to a gathering of staff in Waterford and Wexford Education Training Board, and it was on their strategic plan. I learned about the nearly zero energy building, NZEB, initiative and the centre of excellence approach. That is at the final stage of development.

The learning that we can share across the sector is where ETBI comes in. That is something we have in our structures. Once a month we have directors’ meetings where the director of FET, who is leading on that initiative, will share that learning or project with the other 15 directors of ETBs. That is certainly something that will be focused on. There is no policy in place as yet in that area - not a national policy - but it is certainly something that is on the agenda.

The other initiative we are engaged in is where we are working with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, on the retrofitting of schools. The evidence that we will get from that will inform training that will be developed by ETBs on areas like retrofit. Sometimes a gap exists because something does not fit into a niche programme. What we learn from our engagement with the SEAI on the retrofit of post-primary schools will inform training into the future.