Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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149. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that no DEIS Band 1 school in Galway was included in CASWS funding for 2026; if there are any other funding opportunities this year for DEIS schools to make upgrades to improve energy efficiency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [68422/25]

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, my colleague the former Minister of Education and Youth, Helen McEntee TD, 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.

20 schools across the county of Galway have received funding in the first tranche of approvals announced and a total of 122 projects in Deis schools across the country were included in the announcement.

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.

It is anticipated that the next tranche of approvals will be in the latter half of 2026.

Full details of the of the announcement and the list of schools approved in the first tranche, the Circular (0029/2025) for the scheme and guidance documents for schools can be found at the below link; www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/services/summer-works-scheme/.