Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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466. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if schools (details supplied) will be considered for future iterations of the Schools Energy Retrofit Pathfinder Programme; if this programme will be expanded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51846/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As I have already advised the Deputy, the general principles and approach to school selection include schools meeting Energy Monitoring and Reporting requirements and demonstrating a strong and holistic commitment to energy management practices through participation in the Energy in Education Programme. The programme selection also seeks to enable various cross sections of school types and sizes, energy consumption profiles and different elements of construction type and heritage/ conservation requirements where specific learnings are being targeted. The pathfinder programme is thus delivered on broad assessment in line with the above considerations and not on an application basis.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 Annex of Actions published earlier this year commits the Department to confirm its decarbonisation pathway trajectory to meet 2030 and 2050 targets for the schools sector by the end of 2022.This Plan commits my Department to develop and resource a scalable model of energy efficiency retrofits in the school sector by Q4 2023. The pathfinder programme is paving the way for, and informing this larger schools national programme for the energy retrofit of schools built prior to 2008 as included in the National Development Plan and will play a key part of meeting delivery of the Climate Action Plan.

I will also be announcing in due course a Climate Action Summer Works Programme to progress climate action specific initiatives which will assist with rollout of smaller scale energy retrofit works in schools.