Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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754. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the implementation of the public sector energy efficiency action plan. [30481/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Ireland has a national target to improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. The public sector has a critical leadership role to play, with a more ambitious 33% energy efficiency target in the same period. Very significant efficiency gains have already been made with a 20% improvement in energy efficiency achieved in the public sector by the end of 2016. This equates to €133m of energy spend savings and a 520,000 tonne CO2 equivalent savings mitigated by the public sector in 2016 alone. This is set out in the Annual Report on Public Sector Energy Efficiency Performance compiled by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), and available on their website.

Nevertheless, a significant scaling up of effort is now required if the 33% is to be met. This is why I published the first Public Sector Energy Efficiency Strategy, with the approval of Government, in January 2017. It introduced new governance structures and enhanced support measures, and provided clarity on the retention of financial savings achieved by public sector bodies from the energy efficiency measures they implement.

To realise the potential for energy efficiency in the public sector, there must be senior leadership and accountability for energy performance in Government Departments and public sector bodies. All Government Departments have now appointed Energy Performance Officers (EPO) at a senior level to provide the necessary strategic leadership to their departments and bodies in their sectors on energy management.

Since the publication of the Strategy, my Department, along with the SEAI and OPW, have continued to engage with the EPO network and their energy management teams through workshops and individual advisory sessions. This engagement process is then supported on an on-going basis by the specialist energy advisors assigned to each Department by SEAI. The next step is for my Department, again working with SEAI and OPW, to support EPO's to work with the bodies in their sector to identify and develop energy efficiency projects, and avail of the financial and advisory supports, funded by my Department and available from SEAI.

In 2017, I secured €5m for two pilot partnership programmes between the SEAI and the OPW, and SEAI and Department of Education and Skills. €3 million was allocated to the SEAI/OPW pilot to deliver energy upgrades in central government buildings and €2 million was allocated for a SEAI/DES pilot for medium to deep retrofit upgrades to 10 primary and secondary schools. The purpose of these pilot programmes was to develop a scalable model for energy retrofit investment in our central government building stock and school. I have secured a further €9m this year to extend those pilot initiatives and to further invest in energy efficiency projects and initiatives in the wider public sector. The progress gained and learnings from last year are currently informing the development of standard retrofit approaches that will be effectively and efficiently deployed throughout the entire public sector building stock.

A project pipeline is currently being developed to identify projects of significant scale that can close the remaining gap to target. Along with the pilot schemes, the SEAI is working with the higher education, State laboratory and healthcare sectors to develop significant projects and continues, along with my Department, to support the City & County Management Association in its development of its National Public Lighting upgrade programme, which will halve local authority electricity use.

Furthermore, the Strategy is now providing the basis for realising the commitment in the National Development Plan, to upgrade the public sector built environment under a comprehensive €750 million retrofit programme. This will place the public sector built environment on a sound trajectory for 2050 and lead the way in developing Ireland’s sustainable energy supply chain.