Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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832.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school buildings with a BER ratings of B or higher; the number below that; the projected all-in cost to bring every school building up to such a rating; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32996/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has a strong record 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 approach to the decarbonisation of the school sector is predicated on establishing a credible phased pathway to zero emissions, and meeting 2030 public sector targets through an evidence based approach, informed by the Department’s Energy Research Programme which has been in place from 1997 with over 54 different research strands.

Since 2009, schools designed and built in accordance with the Department’s schools technical guidance documents have achieved A3 Building Energy Ratings. Current schools typically achieve up to 20% higher energy performance and 25% better carbon performance than required by Building Regulations.

The BER programme was introduced in 2009 for new buildings and for buildings that are being bought, sold or rented and is managed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Using the latest available data supplied by SEAI (up to December 2023 inclusive), there are 1907 BER ratings reported on the SEAI BER Register for the school sector. Of these, 68% are A or B rated and the balance are C rated or greater.

My Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications have developed a jointly funded school sector decarbonisation pathfinder programme. This pathfinder is a great example of collaboration ensuring the deployment of new design approaches and technologies are introduced to the school sector on an evidence based approach. This programme continues to assist my Department to explore options and test various solutions for decarbonised energy efficiency solutions in our broad range of school building types.

In preparing for the decarbonisation of the school sector and delivery of the deep energy retrofit to schools built prior to 2008 the Department of Education needed to establish a national energy profile of the school sector. A pilot phase was completed in December 2022 and included 562 schools in five counties, a second phase was completed in Q1 of 2023 targeting 36 of the highest thermal emission schools from the SEAI Monitoring and Reporting Data. This year the Department secured funding from the RePower EU programme to complete the national energy profile. With this consolidated data, the Department will be better positioned to complete a national energy profile of the school estate.

Project costs can vary significantly depending on existing energy performance of the school buildings, but average pathfinder programme delivery costs are typically in the range of €1,500 to €1650/m2. With typical floor area of 16 classroom primary school being 2,555 m2. The overall size of the school estate at nearly 4,000 schools and the pathfinder average costs give an initial sense of the scale of investment required for school decarbonisation, the extent of this will crystallise as the schools energy profile project is completed.

As part of commitments under the Government’s Climate Action Plan, my Department published in July 2023, the School Sector Climate Action Roadmap this includes the strategic vision and outlines the high level initial trajectory to meet 2030 and 2050 energy efficiency and carbon targets for the schools sector.

This roadmap highlights the need for a flexible and tailored approach to the decarbonisation of the school sector to enable the school sector to meet the required targets.