Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State indicated there is a natural ventilation strategy for the school. Does that just mean the use of windows? An air-to-water system is what is needed. Let us not mess around with words. Gas is a fossil fuel. Let us not pretend there is such a thing as green gas because it does not exist and people use some kind of mad terminology to pretend gas is anything other than a fossil fuel. Unless there is going to be a biodigester out the back of the school using the local farmer's slurry, I cannot see how this will be in any way green. If it is not an air-to-water system, it is not climate friendly or carbon reducing.

Both these schools are green schools and have worked hard in the green schools programme. They are both full of students who have great concerns about the climate. Installing any kind of a burner that involves fossil fuels as opposed to air is insane and insulting. I do not understand what a natural ventilation system is. I am talking about a whole-school ventilation system, with vents in the classrooms; I am not talking about windows or an air vent in the home economics room.

We have two clear asks. We want air-to-water heating systems that can be paid for by the photovoltaic panels the Minister of State outlined, instead of paying for gas that will not be produced by the photovoltaic panels, and we want proper ventilation systems that can also be run from the photovoltaic panels in the school. I do not what a natural ventilation strategy means. It sounds as though it refers to opening windows, which is what we have been doing forever.