Government aims for 'net zero carbon' school system by 2050

There are approximately 1,200 school building projects within the current pipeline.

The Government has pledged to deliver up to 200 school building projects annually up to 2025 to meet demographics and to modernise facilities.

This will include “future-proofing” against climate change “as much as possible”.  

The details are included in the Government's National Development Plan 2021-2030, which outlines how capital funding of more than €4.4bn will be provided to school infrastructure over the coming years. 

Annual capital investment in the Department of Education is expected to increase to more than €1bn in 2025, an 40% increase from a total of €740m in 2021.

The plans also include a focus on the existing school stock as part of the transition of the school system to an “era of net zero carbon by 2050.” 

This will include building and modernising school laboratories and PE facilities, as well as the commencement and progression of an energy retrofit programme. According to the Government, the focus of the school-building programme is progressively shifting from primary to post-primary to reflect post-primary enrolments, which are not projected to peak until 2025.

Additional primary-level provision will continue to be required in order to support housing provision, the plan notes, and will be essential to achieving the growth targets for the five cities. Between 2018 and 2020, some 526 building projects were completed under the large-scale and additional accommodation scheme.

There are approximately 1,200 school building projects within the current pipeline across the various stages of planning, design, tender, and construction, the plan notes.

“Most of which are expected to be either under construction or completed in the period 2021 to 2025,” it states.

The plan also pledges almost €2.9bn to further and higher education infrastructure and research over the next five years. 

By 2025, €625m will be allocated to the Department of Further and Higher Education, a 30% increase from a total of €500m in 2021, the plan claims.