Ms Sarah Neary:

On the issue of retrofitting the housing stock in 2014 or 2015, the Department and a number of different stakeholders worked with the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, to produce a code of practice for retrofitting. The document was the first of its kind. Something similar was done in Canada a number of years before that but this brought together all available advice on how to retrofit individual houses in the right way to the right standards. A large part of the code of practice deals with the requirement to put in ventilation when one is increasing airtightness through insulation, whether external or internal. Specific offline studies were done on particular aspects on which we needed further information. That is a core document in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant scheme. The SEAI refers to it with regard to compliance with the standard recommendation. It is the SR 54 code of practice for retrofitting existing buildings.