Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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199. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the departmental policy relating to the presence of asbestos in school buildings and whether it is acceptable that children would be walking on broken asbestos tiles on a daily basis. [53375/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I should explain that applications relating to the provision of funding for issues relating to an existing school building, including for asbestos remediation, can fall under a number of different delivery mechanisms including, most frequently, the Emergency Works Scheme.

The purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action, and in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening.

If the Deputy is referring to an asbestos issue in a specific school please note that it is open to a school to make an application for EWS funding for the remediation of an asbestos issue. Schools can do this by completing the online Emergency Works Application Form available through the Esinet system.