Schools across all 26 counties have been approved for 229 building-improvement projects under an €80 million Climate Action Summer Works package announced on 3 November. The Department of Education and Youth expects the work to take place predominantly during summer 2027, with individual schools to receive separate instructions on procurement and delivery.

Roof and window projects account for just over half of the approvals, according to a count by The Press of the Department’s published school list. The programme also includes electrical and mechanical works, toilet facilities and improvements to external areas. The announcement concerns approved projects; it does not establish that contractors have been appointed or work has already begun.

The Department’s funding announcement identifies this as the second tranche arising from applications submitted in 2025. Schools still awaiting approval remain in the existing application pool, with the next tranche expected in late 2027.

This package is separate from the first tranche announced in November 2025, when 297 projects were approved at an estimated cost of €90 million. Those earlier approvals provide context for the multi-annual programme; they should not be described as part of this week’s 229-project list or treated as evidence that every earlier project is complete.

Roofs and windows form the largest share

The Press counted each school roll number in the full seven-page approval list, finding 229 distinct records. Of those, 65 are classified as climate action and roof works, and 54 as climate action and window projects. Together, those two categories account for 119 approvals.

The remaining records comprise 39 toilet-facility projects, 31 electrical projects, 20 mechanical projects and 14 external-environment projects. Four are listed under the general climate-action category, one under fabric defects and one under curricular requirements excluding science laboratories. These are the main categories assigned in the official list, rather than a count of every individual task a contractor might carry out.

That distinction is useful for school communities reading the announcement. A window approval does not establish the specification of each window, and a roof category does not mean every roof project involves the same treatment. The approved scope and technical details need to be established for the individual school.

Where the approved projects are located

Dublin has 33 school records in the list, followed by Cork with 19 and Donegal with 14. Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mayo and Tipperary each have 12. Kerry has 11, Waterford 10, Kildare nine and Wexford eight.

Roscommon has seven. Louth, Offaly, Sligo and Wicklow each have six, while Longford and Meath each have five. Carlow, Laois and Monaghan each have four. Cavan, Clare, Leitrim and Westmeath each have three.

These figures are The Press’s count of the school entries, checked against the roll numbers in the Department document. They describe the distribution of approved projects, not the allocation of the €80 million between counties. The list does not give individual project budgets, so the number of approvals cannot be used to calculate a county’s funding entitlement.

Nor is it a ranking of the condition of every school building in Ireland. The Department says it assessed this tranche according to schools’ individual needs and the urgency of the work. A county total alone cannot explain the condition, cost or priority attached to any particular project.

What the list shows in Kildare and the North East

Kildare’s nine entries illustrate how the programme combines different types of building work. Brannoxtown Community National School, S N Cill Cae and Scoil Dara are listed for roof works. Window projects are recorded for St Brigids National School, roll number 19675N; Gaelscoil Chill Dara; Newbridge Educate Together National School; and St Brigid’s Kildare Town Primary School.

Aghards National School and St Conleth’s Community College are listed for toilet-facility projects. School names in the national document can differ from the everyday name used locally, which makes the roll number a useful way to check an entry. Kfm’s report on the Kildare approvals also identified nine recipients.

In Louth, the list includes roof works at St Vincent’s Secondary School, toilet facilities at St Louis Secondary School and electrical works at Bush Post Primary School. Meath’s entries include windows at Ratoath Junior National School, mechanical works at St Peter’s College and roof works at Coláiste Pobail Rath Cairn. LMFM’s coverage of the North East announcement reports the same county totals of six in Louth and five in Meath.

Those local reports are accounts of the same funding announcement. The Department’s original list is the basis for the work categories reported here.

Special schools and a wider mix of needs

Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton said this year’s prioritisation placed a particular focus on special schools. The published records include roof works at Carrigaline Community Special School in Cork and Mother of Fair Love Special School in Kilkenny, alongside toilet-facility projects at St Anthony’s Special School in Mayo and St Cecilia’s School in Sligo.

The list also demonstrates that the scheme is broader than replacing one kind of building component. Among Tipperary’s 12 approvals, Ardfinnan National School has a window project, Nenagh Community National School has mechanical works and the Central Technical Institute in Clonmel has roof works. The county also has electrical, toilet and external-environment projects.

The categories describe the approved work, without establishing pupil numbers, new classroom capacity or additional special-school places. A building-improvement approval should therefore be kept distinct from an announcement about admissions, staffing or the opening of a new school.

Approval starts a delivery process

The Department says the relevant schools will be notified separately about the next steps for procuring and delivering their projects. Its Summer Works Scheme service page explains that the programme devolves funding and project management to individual school authorities, supported by professional guidance.

The aim is to complete smaller building works during the summer or at another time that avoids disrupting school operations. For this tranche, summer 2027 is the Department’s predominant expectation, rather than a confirmed start and finish date for every school.

A useful next update from an individual school would identify the approved scope, the procurement stage and the intended work period. Those details would make clear whether the project is still being prepared, has reached a contract award or is ready to start. The national announcement alone does not settle that sequence for each site.

For families, it also does not establish that school days will be cancelled or that pupils will need to move temporarily. Any arrangements affecting attendance, access or activities would need to come from the school’s actual delivery plans.

The scheme allows time for preparation

The Department’s ten key points for the multi-annual scheme explain that schools have 24 months to complete a project from the date approval to proceed is granted. That wording matters: the relevant clock is the individual approval-to-proceed date, rather than an assumption that every project’s deadline began with the public announcement on 3 November.

The same document describes a devolved process with consultant support. It also explains the decision to approve a spread of work categories in a given year, with the aim of helping schools obtain value for money. Different project types can require different preparation, even when they appear in the same funding tranche.

The guidance was issued for the application process beginning in 2025. Its old application deadlines should not be read as a new opportunity to apply in November 2026. School authorities should use their current individual notification for the next operational step.

What happens to schools still waiting?

This announcement draws from the applications already submitted in 2025. Naughton said schools whose applications were not approved initially remain eligible for consideration in future rounds. The Department expects the next tranche from that pool in late 2027; that is an expectation, rather than a guarantee that every outstanding application will be funded then.

The multi-annual approach is intended to allow applications to be considered over successive funding rounds. It does not make this week’s list a complete statement of every building need in the school estate. A school missing from the list has not, for that reason alone, been shown to have no outstanding maintenance requirement.

The scheme’s published frequently asked questions explain that the application route allowed one small-scale project per school. An approved entry therefore should not be interpreted as a commitment to fix every outstanding issue on that campus. Other planned building work and the scope of the particular application also matter.

Energy savings will depend on the work delivered

The funding combines traditional building maintenance with climate measures. The Department points to insulation, heating improvements and LED lighting among the types of work the scheme can support. These are programme examples, not a specification that applies identically to all 229 schools.

The announcement also sets out an energy-reporting condition: schools with summer works projects must register with SEAI and commit to submitting the appropriate returns before payment can issue. Reporting supports accountability, but it is not evidence that a particular school has already achieved a quantified saving.

The immediate verified development is the approval of the projects and the publication of their locations and work categories. For parents and staff checking their own school, the next useful information is its confirmed scope and timetable. For the wider programme, delivery progress and measured results will show how the €80 million commitment translates into better buildings and lower energy use.