Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, for coming into the Chamber today. Fortunately, we cannot shoot the messenger. The Minister of State is not the Minister for Education but I will go for it anyway.

In light of what we know from the pandemic - we knew that ventilation was important way before the pandemic anyway - and the importance of ventilation for public health, I asked that the Minister for Education make a statement committing to the installation of a whole-school ventilation system in both the new community school in Ennistymon and the new school planned for Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna. In light of the cost of fossil fuels, the climate emergency and the existence of much better technologies than we had when we were building schools in previous years, will the Minister commit to the installation of an air-to-water heating system in both schools also? I have raised this issue on a number of occasions in the past year and a half since my first week in the Seanad. I have raised it directly with the Minister, I have raised it here as a Commencement matter, I have emailed the Department and I have been onto the building section, but I still have not got any commitment. It is not good enough. It is not good enough for the staff who spend all day in the schools. It is not good enough for the pupils. We have rising health issues. With the number of asthma sufferers increasing and air pollution issues, we need ventilation. We do not want it only in the home economics room. That is like what we did in the 1980s, when I went to school. We need ventilation around the entire school. Currently, the design of the school in Ennistymon is only putting ventilation in the home economics room.

The second issue is they are putting in gas boilers, which is an absolute joke in this day and age because the Department has done the research and knows that the best thing to do is to put in air-to-water heating.Currently, the Department is retrofitting schools, removing gas and oil burners and installing air-to-water systems, yet new schools are being built with gas boilers. It is beyond belief that the Department would do this. I welcome the fact there will be many photovoltaic solar panels on the new school, but even that emphasises the ridiculousness of not providing air-to-water systems that run on electricity. That would save money not only for the school but also for the State. It is such a logical step to take. Many professors and experts have talked about the importance of ventilation in schools, while the Minister for Education has committed to providing air monitors and air cleaning systems in schools. Building new schools without proper ventilation and air-to-water systems should be illegal. It is madness. It makes no sense for the climate, for the people who spend all day in schools or for financial reasons, including from the Department’s point of view.

I am seeking a proper commitment today. I have received general replies previously saying the Department is moving towards greener things, ventilation and so on, but I do not want vague points or research. I want a specific commitment in respect of new schools. In Ennistymon, we have been fighting for a secondary school to be built for more than 40 years. The pupils, past and present, and all the parents and staff who have fought for it over the years deserve the best. They deserve whole-school ventilation and air monitors. I could roll off the names of many professors who have spoken in support of this. There is a great man from Sixmilebridge who is head of the school of life sciences at the University of Nottingham. He is an expert in infectious diseases and he has spoken about the absolute necessity of ventilation in schools. I could spend ten minutes talking about the reasons we need ventilation and air-to-water systems. It is obvious why we need both. We needed both before the pandemic and we need them even more now since the pandemic began and in the context of the climate emergency and our climate action plan. There is a commitment in the programme for Government that every Department must reach its carbon targets, but they will not be able to do that if they continue putting in gas and oil burners.

I hope we will get a commitment today from the Minister for Education. I appreciate the Minister of State is not the Minister at that Department, but I hope the Minister for Education gave a commitment to him when she received notice of the Commencement matter. I will not let this one go because, if it is happening in Ennistymon and Lisdoonvarna, I presume it is happening in other parts of the country as well. It is great to install the photovoltaic panels to make the school look green but it is not green if a gas burner is being installed, and it is not a healthy school for the students or the staff if there is ventilation in the home economics room but not anywhere else. It is 2022 now and we know a lot more than we did in the past. We cannot build schools designed with 1980s or 1990s thinking in 2022.