Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair, and very much welcome all the witnesses. I am a former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, so I would know a number of the principals here today, as well as others in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the organisations. I have about six or seven questions, and 15 minutes, so I would appreciate short answers purely for efficiency purposes. I am going to start off with SEAI and then work back to the Department.

On Chapter 8 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the performance of certain residential retrofit schemes, I will say at the outset that there should be more public awareness of the fact SEAI is not a regulator. That is an issue that needs to be pushed because I think there is a misconception that SEAI is a regulator. It is not a regulator. It is our job as public representatives, and that of others, to push that more because it certainly gets lost.

SEAI residential schemes will deliver less than half of the overall residential targeted energy use reduction by 2030 and, to date, it has only contributed modestly to the target. How does the SEAI expect the rest of the 2030 residential energy reduction target to be achieved, given the statistics we have to date?