Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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72. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of the analysis of the accommodation and condition reports regarding the school buildings element of the pilot school building inventory (details supplied) carried out in County Kildare; his plans to expand this element of the inventory for the rest of the country, particularly in the context of accurately identifying the accommodation capacity of existing schools nationwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42110/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The pilot inventory referred to by the Deputy was undertaken previously in respect of school buildings in County Kildare and covered two elements: the geographical information system (GIS) and a detailed analysis of the accommodation and condition reports regarding school buildings. My Department has since scaled the GIS element up to national level and the GIS is utilised in my Department's nationwide demographic exercises to determine where new schools are needed at primary and post-primary level across the country. My Department's experience with the accommodation and condition reports was that they were detailed and cumbersome and quickly became out of date, particularly where further work was undertaken in respect of buildings.

As the Deputy may be aware, there will increasing focus on refurbishment and deep energy retrofit of existing schools, which is a key element of the National Development Plan (NDP), and my Department is considering how the energy monitoring usage in schools, as part of our engagement with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), can assist with the prioritisation of needs – effectively acting as a proxy for an inventory of accommodation. My Department is working closely with the SEAI in this regard.

The audit of national sports facilities that is due to be undertaken by local authorities as part of the National Sports Strategy will also assist with building up the national picture on sports facilities in schools. My Department is currently liaising with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in relation to same.