Mr. Declan Daly:

On that point, we are technically paying people who are in receipt of fuel allowance to burn fossil fuels. This is what we are giving them €700 a year to do. We find that when we go out to the market to retrofit those houses the people are now putting in renewable energy heating source, and now they are paid to use a renewable heating source instead of fossil fuel. It is not just about simple payback, there are also the health benefits; those people now live in a healthy house and they will not end up in our hospitals costing the State €800 or €900 per day in dealing with respiratory illness and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD.