Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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403. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of buildings that are in the ownership, use or rental of her Department in which non-essential lighting is left on overnight; the estimated total cost of same; if she plans to request that all non-essential lighting is switched off after work has ceased. [46960/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department conducts its operations in 10 buildings which are either State owned or rented or leased by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on behalf of my Department. As part of its overall commitment to energy saving and the climate agenda, steps have been taken to eliminate the use of non-essential lighting, where appropriate and safe to do so, such as switching off lighting used to illuminate the exterior of buildings at night. Internal lighting is routinely switched off when buildings are being secured for the night.

As billing is done on the basis of an entire building it is not possible for the cost of individual measures to be broken down as requested.

For the Deputy's information, in 2020 the public sector achieved its ambitious target to attain a 33% energy efficiency improvement, compared to an overall economy target of 20%. There will now be a concerted effort across the public sector to continue this leadership role in reducing energy use.

As the Deputy will be aware, Cabinet recently approved a suite of energy-efficiency measures across the public sector. All public sector bodies will take a leading role in lowering their energy consumption and costs by implementing the Reduce Your Use energy efficiency campaign.

The Reduce Your Use energy efficiency campaign is designed to target reductions in energy use including targeted reductions in energy use by public sector bodies, through simple and easy to implement measures.

Public sector bodies will be required to set temperatures to a guideline 19 degrees where appropriate, turning off heat in office buildings at least 1-2 hours before the buildings close and ensuring that there is no non-security/safety lighting in use after 8:00pm. However, this requirement allows for consideration of the public service being delivered at that location, and the suitability of reducing temperatures in particular circumstances.

It is expected that this campaign can deliver 5-10% energy savings overall across the sector, and up to 15% in buildings.