Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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274. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and secondary schools that have undertaken an energy retrofit as part of the national energy efficient retrofit pathfinder scheme since it commenced in 2017; the number of schools that will take part in the scheme in 2022, by county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28636/22]

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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275. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the level of funding allocated for the national energy efficient retrofit pathfinder scheme for primary and secondary schools under the National Development Plan 2021-2030; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28637/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 274 and 275 together.

My Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification.

My Department’s Technical Guidance Documents set the benchmark for sustainable design in school buildings with a clear focus on energy efficiency and they are based on solid energy research projects.

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.

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. The Departments policy is supported by a strong research programme with fifty three research projects at various stages including the energy website www.energyineducation.ie. which is a joint partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

In the interest of sustainability, it is critical that renewable applications are properly suited to the schools needs so as to reduce energy costs and carbon and not just applied for the sake of having renewables. It is also critical that we minimise the demand for energy before we invest in renewable energy applications. This has been assisted in previous years with the wall and attic insulation programme and the water conservation programme.

My Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications established a jointly funded pathfinder programme with the SEAI, testing and demonstrating energy efficiency and decarbonisation retrofit approaches. This pathfinder is a great example of collaboration ensuring the deployment of new design approaches and technologies are introduced to the educational environment on an evidence based approach.

This Pathfinder programme is paving the way for, and informing, a much larger national schools’ programme for the energy retrofit of schools built prior to 2008 as included in the National Development Plan. It is facilitating research on a range of typical retrofit options, which will have been tried and tested. It is providing valuable development information for a solution driven delivery strategy which will be founded on a solid evidence base that has proven the robustness and scalability of renewable solutions within the schools’ sector. 

The longer-term outcome of the pathfinder will be to create an accurate and scalable model for energy efficient retrofits of schools across Ireland. The deep energy retrofit programme for schools built prior to 2008 is due to be rolled out as included in the National Development Plan.

The pathfinder programme has retrofitted 41 schools across Ireland to date with work on an additional 9 schools added in 2021 underway. 2022 sees six additional schools undergoing deep retrofit to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B with renewable heating systems at a total budget cost of €28M. Each school undergoes a comprehensive assessment to ensure that the measures are suitable for that school and will deliver value to both the school and learnings for the national retrofit programme.

The Department recognises that transition to full decarbonisation raises the bar even higher in terms of requirements with feedback from our pathfinder projects as noted above indicating a greater depth of challenges at a significantly enhanced cost for primary and post primary schools.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 Annex of Actions published this year actions the Department to confirm its decarbonisation pathway trajectory to meet 2030 and 2050 targets for the schools sector by end of 2022.

Work is ongoing on decarbonisation options for new schools with a focus on the standard of required design criteria and specification to achieve a net zero energy school building and establishing the trajectory for the integration of suitable solutions on a phased basis in a risk controlled manner providing a credible cost effective transition to zero carbon school buildings while ensuring no delays to school accommodation delivery.