Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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261. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the means by which she will ensure that school buildings are modernised and fit for purpose, particularly in terms of energy efficiency and accessibility for students with disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14915/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department is required to manage the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country. The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in schools and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.

The Department can identify opportunities to transform existing schools as part of energy retrofit projects, and the Department’s Pathfinder programme has been developing effective solutions in this regard, as we plan for a future wider rollout.

The plan for working this through at national scale will be informed by the outcome of an Energy and Condition survey of all schools which is currently underway. The subsequent analysis of this significant amount of data will help determine priorities going forward in relation to retrofit and refurbishment projects. The process may ultimately identify a requirement for the replacement of some accommodation, but this is not expected to be widespread. This overall process is particularly valuable in facilitating a proportionate assessment of a school’s accommodation upgrade needs relative to all other schools and allow an effective prioritisation of capital investment.

The Department's focus for school capital spending in recent years has been on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the rollout of additional special classes for children with additional needs. This approach reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child. The pace of delivery of additional residential development in school planning areas, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements.

My Department has in place detailed design guidelines for primary and post-primary schools. These guidelines, which are available on my Department's web-site, include guidance for the provision of lifts in multi-level new school builds for wheelchair users and for those with a disability.

The General Design Guidelines for Schools - Primary & Post-Primary (TGD– 020) includes guidance for design consultants appointed with the responsibility to adhering to these guidelines and other statutory obligations.

In addition, all new school projects are to be designed and constructed in accordance with the Building Regulations TGD Part M – Access & Use and with a granted Disability Access Certificate (DAC), which is a statutory approval. The completed school building project is also certified on completion by the Assigned Certifier & Builder as in compliance with the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations as part of adhering to above.

As the Deputy may be aware, funding is already provided by my Department under the guise of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) for works to existing schools. The purpose of the SWS is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis and, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The SWS operates on a multi-annual basis for a number of categories.

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. It is a priority for Government to deliver on Ireland’s ambitious climate agenda and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes targets around the decarbonisation of Ireland’s public buildings. As part of it’s planning for 2025 and beyond, Department officials are considering and planning for the next phases of the summer works programme and the opportunities this may create to support the sustainability agenda.

In this regard, it is envisaged at this stage that, a Multi-Annual SWS with a focus on climate action and energy conservation will be the focus for the next summer works scheme to be opened for applications. It is expected that applications will be open to schools in quarter 2 of 2025 and schools will be updated in due course.