Mr. Hubert Loftus:

I will make just a general point. Looking at maintenance and how it is done currently, and the mechanisms and schemes in place to facilitate that, we have the minor works grant. That is for primary schools and is typically of the order of €30 million annually. There is the emergency works scheme and the summer works scheme. They are the main mechanisms. Typically, that would be in or around €100 million a year in total. The figure can go up or down a bit, but that is the average. Obviously, an emergency is an emergency, so that is school-led or there might be an architect or whoever else out at a school. The minor works scheme is a mechanism to enable schools to do small-scale works and gives them the flexibility for that. The summer works scheme is a multi-annual scheme. There are various categories of works within that. Schools then apply on that basis. We work through that in priority order. In that regard, first, as part of our climate agenda, we will have a strong climate action focus in respect of summer works. There will be more clarity on that in the autumn in terms of detail and an application process for schools. Second, coming back to the point Deputy Carthy raises, we are moving towards a more system-led approach to maintenance to help pick up on the scenarios to which he alludes of a school principal or a school that may not be doing as much on the maintenance front. As part and parcel of that and of forward-planning from a climate perspective, we are doing energy profiling of the school estate. We have 580 schools currently being surveyed as a first tranche of those, and we envisage the bulk of the balance of schools to be done over the course of 2023 and 2024. That then gives a clear picture of where the priorities are from a system perspective.

Obviously, schools can pick stuff up as well. A combination of both will go through.