Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Can I make a brief point on retrofitting? I am conscious that Deputy Ó Cathasaigh raised this point. We are fully committed to it. However, I want to emphasise the point Mr. Brownlee made. It is a serious point from a policy perspective. We will not be found wanting as a Department, nor will SOLAS as an agency of our Department, in making sure we do everything we can to expand retrofitting skills. However, we need to consider what policy instruments are required to create demand. This demand should be on two fronts. The first relates to demand by those who wish to access the training and how one incentivises that. The second relates to demand by people who want to get their home retrofitted and how we incentivise that. I am fully committed to this. It has to be done in half a million houses. We are opening centres of excellence to train people. We want those centres of excellence to be busy. I want to flag with this committee that we will need a policy discussion about how we incentivise demand by people who are looking for the training and demand for people who wish to be able to have the works carried out on their home, office, business, or building.