Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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301. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to review correspondence from a school regarding a scheme (details supplied); if she will review the costs and points being made for the application by the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66864/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme (CASWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis that, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The CASWS operates on a multi-annual basis across a number of categories of works.

It is envisaged that approvals in any given year will involve a spread of categories rather than the traditional single category at a time. This is aimed at managing market capacity and maximising value for money opportunities for school authorities.

The CASWS will operate on a multi-annual basis. In November 2025, the Minister announced the first tranche of approvals under the new Climate Action Summer Works Scheme. 297 projects were approved to proceed and involve primary, post primary and special schools, along with projects in all counties and across all categories of works. The investment in the first tranche of applications is in the region of €90m.

Given that funding is limited in any particular year it is necessary to prioritise applications. Under the new climate action summer works scheme which operates on a multi annual basis, like previous summer works schemes, applications from schools that are not reached for funding or market prioritisation reasons in 2026 will qualify to be assessed for purposes of the funding available for climate action summer works in subsequent years. So schools can rest assured that their applications remain live and any costs incurred in the employment of a consultant to assist the schools in making their application has not been wasted but was necessary for the following reasons:

• For a professional diagnosis of the full nature and extent of the proposed project.
• To verify the absolute necessity for the project relative to the impact of not doing it.
• To provide a detailed breakdown of the cost, A breakdown of costs must be provided, including costs per m² of building area affected by the proposed works.
• To inform the prioritisation of projects on the basis of professional objective information.