Dr. Brian Motherway:

I think the difference is that the person selling the fuel is also garnering the energy credits whereas the other person is not. The difference is whether a person has signed up to the energy credits scheme as opposed to just selling fuel. I will check that and confirm it. There are many new wall insulation products coming out. I take the Deputy's point that if one cannot pump the cavity, wall insulation becomes much more expensive and tricky in some ways. I have this in my home. We are examining different methods but some of it is down to luck regarding how one's home was built. There are new technologies and the prices are coming down driven by volume. Some four or five years ago external wall insulation was not happening in Ireland. Now, because we grant aiding it, more of it is happening, more suppliers are coming in and costs are decreasing quickly. That is part of the solution.
The Deputy raised accreditation and quality, which Deputy Harrington also raised. We are trying to raise the quality of the small building retrofit market, which does not have a great reputation for quality. Sometimes people are willing to do cash jobs and quick fixes. Raising the standards of the market takes effort. One must strike a balance where one sets quality and accreditation levels at a high enough level to raise the quality, but not so high that one is unfairly ruling people out. Because our standards are uniform across the board, if one avails of an SEAI grant the contractor must meet standards regarding quality, qualifications, tax clearance and insurance, which relates to Deputy Harrington's point.
We insist on appropriate insurance for anybody working for our schemes. There have been a small number of cases where a company has gone bust and, therefore, there is no redress for the homeowner. We must continue to address that. We have considered asking the market to develop a bond scheme similar to HomeBond. Although we have not achieved it yet, it could have a role. We try to resolve all disputes and have an appeal scheme. If Members know of cases in difficulty I ask them to bring them to our attention. We have a dedicated contact point for Members of the Oireachtas, oireachtas@seai.ie. We will always examine cases and try to treat them as humanely and fairly as possible, and keep the numbers as low as possible.