Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position in respect of photovoltaics, PV, provision and to overview some of the ambitious sustainability agenda being progressed to improve the overall sustainability of our school buildings. I sincerely acknowledge the Deputy's personal engagement with me on this issue. I acknowledge it is very close to his heart and I acknowledge the commitment from both my Department and the Department of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to advance this.

There has been significant investment to date, as I have outlined, in retrofitting schools, and the Department will continue to support that in conjunction with the SEAI. As highlighted already, the Department has delivered very strong energy efficiency standards in our new school buildings.

In respect of solar panels specifically, Department of Education officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on the arrangements specific to this scheme, and details will be announced in the shortest timeframe possible. As part of the preparation for the roll-out of the national programme, as I had started to say, a key first step was to establish the level of existing PV installations in our schools. This capacity survey is nearly completed and will inform how we can progress. The provision of the solar panels will be fully funded for schools, which is an important consideration for all our schools, and the roll-out of the solar panel scheme is expected to commence later this year.

Equally as important for the benefit of our schools, and the Deputy referred to the manner in which schools will be prioritised, is that this will be a multi-annual programme. There is an absolute commitment from both the Department of Education and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to advance this initiative for the benefit of our schools. It is very much part of climate action, as the Deputy said. There is no one more invested in the whole area of sustainability and climate action than our students themselves. They have been terrific leaders in the area of sustainability and climate action. This will be a welcome addition to our schools and, as I said, we will give the detail of it in the shortest timeframe possible.

See this speech in context