Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 March 2026
111. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 818 of 18 March 2026, if she will further respond to correspondence received (details supplied) in relation to a school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22716/26]
View answerMy Department successfully secured REPowerEU funding to expand the School Pathfinder Decarbonisation and Retrofit Programme during summer 2025. The Department’s submission drew on data collected through the Energy Inventory Pilot, this pilot did not include the Louth area, the pilot included counties Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Wicklow and Wexford.
A condition of the funding from the RePowerEU Programme was that the works must be delivered within a specified timeframe. A total of 40 schools across these five counties were included in the initial assessment phase. The Programme targeted schools of a scale and size that enabled significant works to be completed within a single school term or summer holiday period. As such, the schools selected are typically eight- to ten-classroom primary schools and post-primary schools of similar floor area. Participation in the programme is by selection rather than by application.
The typical works included in the programme entailed retrofit to achieve a minimum Building Energy Rating (BER) of B, through the installation of heat pumps, LED lighting and mechanical heat recovery ventilation. Fabric and airtightness upgrades will also be carried out, alongside the installation of electric vehicle chargers.
28 were successfully brought to construction stage during summer 2025, with the final 12 schools currently on track for construction stage this summer. This REPowerEU support represents a once-off allocation to Ireland, and therefore no additional schools will be added to this programme.
On a more general level, as I explained in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 818, applications relating to the provision of funding for issues relating to an existing school building can fall under a number of different delivery mechanisms including, most frequently, the Summer Works Scheme and the Emergency Works Scheme and could include the upgrade or provision of facilities such as those referenced in this query.
The newly announced Climate Action Summer works opened for applications on the 1st May and the application window closed on the 30th of June 2025, full details of the scheme can be found under Summer Works Scheme. The EWS is open for applications year-round. It is open to the school to make an application under the most appropriate scheme.
