Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills
Briefing on Current and Future Plans for the School Building Unit: Department of Education
Mr. Hubert Loftus:
I would not like to think that there would be a feeling that we are ignoring the small rural schools. They are very valuable. They are very important to the fabric of communities, and we support them through the schemes to which I referred earlier. We see an important part of that in the direction of travel generally in terms of modernisation and the climate agenda. Obviously, by its nature, that also involves a longer timeframe. Small rural schools have an important role to play when it comes to the fabric of villages and communities in general. I will ask Mr. Dolan, who is our technical manager on climate, to focus on the ventilation side of things. Air filters also formed part of the question posed in this regard.