Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, for her time. This is a departmental matter and as both the Minister of State and the senior Minister, Deputy Foley, are new in their roles, I will not put the entire responsibility for this on them but work needs to be done in the Department of Education if we are serious about getting our buildings right for the children who spend 183 days of the year in them. Can the Minister of State confirm how many new buildings have completed design stage with the planning and building unit of the Department? In a post-Covid-19 greener future, can she confirm that all these new buildings have been designed with whole-school ventilation, fossil-fuel-free heating systems, sufficient outdoor multi-use games areas and safe active travel infrastructure?

I will deal with each of these four areas briefly. First, we know that these types of viruses are not going to go completely away and I received a response from the Department, which is currently putting new gas boilers into new buildings. That is not good enough in this day and age. At the same time, the Department is also retrofitting gas and oil burners into schools. It seems to be insane to be wasting money on new gas boilers in new schools when we are replacing them in other schools. Gas is a fossil fuel and there are plenty of other options now and the Department itself has been doing research on this for more than 20 years.

Second, on ventilation, many new schools do not have proper ventilation. I have seen a few new school designs for big secondary and primary schools. They have ventilation in the toilets and perhaps in the home economics room but do not have a whole-school ventilation system. The best practice now is closed envelope, air to water or air to air with a heat recovery ventilation system. That is what we want and need. We see that schools currently are not fit for purpose. The heating is on and the windows are open. Those days are over, as this is 2021. This is important because although we tell children that the climate has changed and that we must do everything that we can, we are not putting them in buildings in 2021 that are designed in a modern way, despite 20 years of research from the Department on getting it right.

The third issue I raise is sufficient outdoor space for play. I spent 14 years visiting schools and all too often I saw the lack of outdoor space. I see now these new multi-use game areas which are good for basketball and certain games. In many new schools, however, we do not have new pitches that will be big enough to host any camogie, football or hurling matches. I refer to one in my home town of Ennistymon in particular, where three schools are being amalgamated into a beautiful new school. It will have no pitch big enough to host camogie, football or hurling matches, which seems mad in this day and age because there are many sports for which grass is needed. I am not talking about small AstroTurf or basketball courts but about a proper pitch for the school and the children to be out on and having this space. It is all about the outdoors now and we want our children and teenagers to have access to that kind of infrastructure in all new buildings.

The final item I wish to raise concerns safe travel to schools to access the schools. The Department has been working with An Taisce's Green-Schools: Safe Routes to School, which is a new programme that has come through the Minister for Transport, which is great, but that involves retrofitting and redesigning existing schools. I am talking about new school buildings that do not have the proper infrastructure for active travel.They see it as a secondary thing. I have seen new designs which have winding roads leading to the school and parallel there is a winding cycling and walking route when we all know well a much shorter route could be put in at much less cost to encourage pedestrians and cyclists. I spent 14 years working full time on behavioural change and traffic jams outside every school in Ireland. We have to get the new builds right. We have to look at short, small infrastructure that encourages walkers and cyclists to see there is a quicker, safer route away from cars. We should not be running them parallel to cars, they cost more and are longer. It makes no sense. I would expect and demand better for our children as we move to a scary future with the new design in the Department.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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This is a matter under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Foley, but I am happy to outline the work going on. On the large scale capital building programme, 135 school building projects are ongoing which are at or have completed design stage. These include: Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg; Gaelscoil Donncha Rua; Gaelscoil Uí Choimín; Ennis Educate Together National School; Ennistymon National School; Raheen Wood Steiner school; and Mol an Óige Community National School in Clare. There are also in excess of 1,000 school building projects under the large scale and additional accommodation schemes which are across various stages of planning, design, tender and construction in relation to school extensions and refurbishment projects. All new builds have special educational needs facilities for ASD classes, etc., which is a commitment that was given in the building and planning unit.

Specifically, on a post-Covid greener future the Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings. This performance has been recognised at both national and international level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in design and specification. The Department's technical guidance document set the benchmark for sustainable design in school buildings with a clear focus on energy efficiency. They are based on solid energy research projects. All new technologies and approaches are tested to ensure compatibility with school design and operational requirements. Successful and repeatable results are then incorporated into all new school designs and refurbishments through the Department's technical guidance documents. The Department's policy is supported by a strong research programme with 53 research projects at various stages, including the energy in education website, a joint partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Schools that are designed and built in accordance with the Department's schools technical guidance documents have been achieving A3 building energy ratings since 2009 with current schools typically achieving up to 20% higher performance than required by the current building regulations, along with 10% of primary energy provided via photovoltaics and infrastructure provision for electric vehicle charging.

The Senator asked about fossil-free heating systems. The design guidance also include future-proofing to take advantage of technologies as they become viable. For example: direct modulating high-efficiency gas boiler systems that can support the integration of heat pump systems; optimum envelope fabric that will not require additional enhancement for compatibility with decarbonised heating systems, low water content radiators and operating temperatures for compatibility with decarbonised heating systems; and the provision of space in new school classroom layouts for mechanical ventilation heat recovery units. In the interest of sustainability, the potential of renewables is maximised in school design while ensuring that renewable applications are properly suited to needs and reflective of school opening hours and school holiday periods.

It is also critical that an energy reduction plan is part of any investment in renewable energy applications. The climate action plan, due for publication in mid-2021, will outline how energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets are to achieved.As part of our continued research, the Department is undertaking a further review of current school design principles based on the new focus of moving from energy-demand reduction to energy-related greenhouse gas emission reduction for public sector bodies.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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I am afraid I got nothing new from the Minister of State's response, given that I have heard it previously from the Department. I was not asking about the quantity of schools but rather quality, which is why I raised the issue. I know there are many new school buildings and that is brilliant, but we have to get them right. As the Minister of State noted, we will research whatever is viable but we already know what is viable. The research has been going on for 20 years. We are retrofitting schools at the moment with air-to-water and air-to-air systems, yet we are designing new builds with gas heating. That makes no sense.

Current building regulations are of no interest. We want schools to be A3 energy rated, carbon neutral, fossil-fuel free and healthy. We want full school ventilation, not just in some parts of the school. The Department has been researching this for 20 years and it should have figured it out by now.

We have for years been fighting on behalf of schools for the signing of a statutory instrument. It was promised that it would be in place by the first quarter of 2021 but it has not happened. It would stop schools having to apply for planning permission to put photovoltaic and solar panels on their roofs. It is a disgrace that they have to do so. In this day and age, schools should be paid to do this. Not only that, they should be allowed to sell the energy back to the grid during the summer months. Given all the research and so on that has been done, it is not good enough. The Department needs to catch up. With 20 years of research, it should be doing better by now. The new designs are akin to 1990 designs. We are retrofitting some schools while repeating old patterns with new schools.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I have no doubt the comments of the Senator will be brought to the attention of the Department, and I will certainly bring them to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, who is in charge of the building planning unit. There is merit in much of what the Senator said. I have noted her comments on school ventilation, although it is just one of a number of prevention and control measures that are in place to ensure that schools are safe. I accept what she said earlier about having the heating turned on and the windows open. There has to be a better way to do that.

There are practical steps in the Department’s guide for schools for the deployment of good ventilation practices, which was updated in November 2020, and that may be of assistance to the Senator. Moreover, the design guidelines for all new schools provide for the provision of outdoor multi-use game areas. I note what the Senator said about tarmacadam being different from grass. There is not sufficient time for me to delineate all the other points but I will convey her comments to the Minister and ensure that she addresses her concerns.