Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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298. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme 2026 application (details supplied) submitted in 2025 under the climate action works category; whether the application has now been assessed; the stage it has reached in the evaluation process; the timeframe for a decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50323/26]

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.

In November 2025, my department 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.

My department can confirm an application was received from the school in question however the school was not on the list of approvals in the first tranche. A preliminary assessment was undertaken on all 1,430 applications received under the Climate Action Summer works scheme however, 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/