Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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435. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the CO2 monitors supplied to schools; the measures being taken to address defective monitors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46037/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Good ventilation was identified as an important aspect of public health advice on managing Covid-19 risks and this led to the establishment of an Expert Group by the Department of Health. A sub-group of the main Expert Group focussed exclusively on the issue of improving and monitoring ventilation in schools.

This report formed the based for the most recent updating of the ventilation guidance for schools and included recommendations in relation to strengthening the message about the importance of good ventilation and the use of CO₂monitors.

The use of CO₂monitors can provide a useful general indication that areas/rooms within a building may not be adequately ventilated and can enable occupants to become familiar with the impact that activities, outdoor weather and window openings have on levels of good ventilation within a room. This information can be used to inform strategies for improving ventilation. The portable units can facilitate measurements in a wide range of locations in schools.

My Department procured portable monitors that are currently being distributed to schools – between 2 and 20 at primary school level and between 20 and 35 at post-primary school level depending on school size, at an estimated overall cost of €4 million. The monitors are portable, simple to use, and will give a digital reading.

Deliveries of CO₂monitors to schools commenced in the third week of August. In total, it involves over 35,000 CO₂monitors being distributed to primary and post-primary schools. 25,000 CO₂monitors have been distributed to schools to date, meaning that CO₂ monitors have been delivered to each school in the country.

A fault was detected with the LCD display unit in the CO₂monitor in the last batch of 10,000 CO₂monitors by the manufacturer.

The quality assurance process means that there are no similar concerns with any of the 25,000 CO₂monitors that have already been distributed to schools.

For schools which have received a monitor which is not working as expected, this is unrelated with the above issue. It is most likely in these very small number of cases that the monitor simply got damaged in transit. In the case where a monitor provide to a schools is not operating as expected, the school should contact Lennox Laboratories who will arrange for a replacement monitor to be provided.

96% of primary schools (including all special schools) have received their full allocation of CO₂ monitors. 10 CO₂monitors have been provided to schools at post-primary level. The remaining balance of CO₂monitors is expected to be distributed in October.

In the interim, the Department has advised schools that if they wish, they can make arrangements directly for procuring the balance of their CO₂monitors directly themselves, rather than via the current arrangements.

The Department is providing schools with a technical specification for the monitors, and schools may share these specifications with suppliers for guidance. The cost incurred by a school in procuring the shortfall in CO₂monitors locally can be recouped from the Department.