Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had a few things in mind and I wonder if they have been clarified yet. One is what the interest rate will be on the low-interest loan. I saw different numbers suggested.

Second, what is the SEAI's estimate of the number of attic and cavity homes which have not yet reached an acceptable standard and could be supported by the 80% grant? That is certainly low-hanging fruit in terms of immediate response in the present environment. In addition, what is its view on moving estate by estate? In my constituency, some estates have very bad insulation standards. They are known from when they were built. Often, they are older estates. Rather than waiting for the individuals to approach the one-stop shop, there is clearly an opportunity to take some of the estates with the worst standards and go in with a package for them and the authority could get a lot of people doing it together. Is that feasible or is the authority depending on sustainable energy communities to pull those together or the one-stop shop? How might that lower-hanging opportunity be achieved?

Is there potential to accelerate solar installation? The committee heard about barriers because of lack of guidelines, but can we accelerate that?

Finally, there are 90,000 vacant homes that are deemed accessible to coming back into use in some shape or form. Has the authority looked at that cohort of homes as potentially a win-win to combine what the authority is doing with, for example, the repair and lease scheme or some of the other schemes that are available, and go with an enhanced package?