Funding available for air filtration systems in schools, says Finance Minister

By Rebecca Black, PA

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen has been urged to bid for funding to equip schools with air filtration systems.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy has written to Ms McIlveen, pledging his support for such a bid.

Earlier this week, Ms McIlveen said that investing in air filtration systems for every school would cost at least £40 million and questioned whether evidence of their effectiveness was available to justify this level of investment.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen has been urged to bid for funding to equip schools with air filtration systems.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy has written to Ms McIlveen, pledging his support for such a bid.https://t.co/HOyKj41oGb

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) January 12, 2022

It comes as schools reopened after the Christmas break during record high numbers of Covid-19 cases in the community due to the Omicron variant.

In a letter seen by the PA news agency, Mr Murphy said he wished to clarify that “significant in-year capital funding will remain available for allocation even if all existing bids are met in the January monitoring round”.

(Covid cases in schools have been spiralling)

He went on to note that the Department of Education had not made a bid for funding for air filtration or ventilation devices.

“If you choose to make such a bid as part of the monitoring round, I would make a supportive recommendation to the Executive,” Mr Murphy wrote.

“I would therefore be grateful if you could advise as a matter of urgency whether you intend to submit a bid.”

The letter comes after a debate in the Assembly earlier this week where Ms McIlveen came under pressure over her handling of the pandemic in schools.

But Ms McIlveen told MLAs that air filtration systems were not the “magic solution to ending Covid-19 transmission in schools”.

She estimated that installing them in 20,000 classrooms across the region would cost at least £40 million, and questioned whether there was enough evidence of their effectiveness to justify the investment.

Ms McIlveen said she was investing £2 million this year on ventilation works, including replacing old and defective windows, CO2 monitors, and an initial 100 air filtration units.

She said action had been taken on workforce shortages, including asking recently retired teachers to return, which had resulted in more than 100 people putting their names on the substitute teachers’ register.

The Department of Education was contacted for a response.

(Without air filters, teachers have to open windows, no matter what the temperature is, to improve air flow)