Mr. Martin Ward:

I thank the Senator for the question, which was similar to the question asked by Deputy Bríd Smith about the warmer homes scheme. First Class Insulation was a social enterprise we set up in 2010 and we delivered on the panel of the warmer homes scheme from 2010 to 2020. We had ten years' work done on that. We think it is important that social considerations are built into any procurement process. That is a European directive that is now in Irish law. We were lucky enough to sit on that panel for five years because we were a community-based organisation, like a number of others throughout the country. In 2014, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, decided that it would put contracts out to tender and part of the direction for the first two tenders put out by the SEAI was that a special lot was put in place for community-based organisations in order for us to compete and maintain the jobs. We were successful twice in that regard. There was a change in directive thereafter which meant there were no more separate lots so we would have to tender against the big contractors. We are, therefore, no longer on that panel, which is a shame because it meant we lost seven jobs in that area. We completed 2,000 homes under that scheme.

Through our social enterprises, we are delivering social, economic and environmental impacts. Our application of the warmer homes scheme was about targeting who we considered the real fuel poor. We went out of our way to deliver to a lot of the Gaeltacht areas. We took the scheme into the Aran Islands and delivered deeper measures. For us, it was not about targeting 40 homes in the one housing estate, as a big contractor would, but was about finding that one home that was never going to be found and ensuring it got over the line to enable it to get the service. It would be great if there was a push by members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action to ensure that separate lots are brought back and that community-based organisations can take up a contract because many organisations throughout the country have lost their contracts for the warmer homes scheme. We will be here for the long term whereas the bigger contractors might come and go when the boom starts again. It would be good if that issue was brought up at the climate committee.