John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the schools selected to participate in the energy retrofit pathfinder programme; and the progression of works in each school. [6549/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My department is leading an ambitious sustainability agenda and has progressed a wide array of measures to improve the overall sustainability of our school buildings as part of our work towards 2030 and 2050 climate targets. This performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in design, specification and delivery. My departments policy is supported by a strong research programme with fifty-six research programmes at various stages.

It is a priority for Government to deliver on Ireland’s ambitious climate agenda and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the department’s School Sector Technical Climate Action Roadmap ( )which was published in 2023 and updated in 2024.

My Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications have developed a jointly funded school sector decarbonisation pathfinder programme. It is administered by the Planning and Building Unit in my Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland in partnership with devolved delivery support from Limerick and Clare Education Training Board, and Longford and Westmeath Education Training Board.

The pathfinder programme 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.

It is facilitating research on a range of typical retrofit options for schools, which will be 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 school sector.

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 works typically involves upgrades to the building fabric including wall and roof insulation, doors and windows, air tightness improvements, LED lighting and heating upgrades as well as renewable technologies.

A Building Energy Rating (BER) of B is the targeted energy rating for all schools included in the programme.

The pathfinder is paving the way for, and informing a larger schools national programme for the energy retrofit of schools and will play a key part of meeting delivery of the Climate Action Plan. The next step is to create an accurate scalable model for resourcing and delivery for across the school sector. This pathfinder programme has completed work to date in 62 schools across Ireland with 15 schools ongoing at various stages of the process.

Funding has also been secured from REPowerEU to fund an expanded school pathfinder decarbonisation and retrofit programme. A total of 40 schools have been selected for initial assessment based on their building profile for the programme and are all currently at Stage 2 design phase.

These pathfinder programmes are assisting my Department in achieving our 2030 targets and the ultimate ambition of net zero emissions by 2050.