Mr. Brian O'Mahony:

The Chair is correct. The energy performance building directive is being recast and it is actually connected into the Fit for 55 discussions that are happening at the moment. They are primarily led through our parent Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

There are several proposals on the table and also some things that are going to happen. There is talk of having zero-emission buildings by 2050. The definition needs to be tied down but it effectively means that each building will have an A rating. We have to get to a position where every building in Ireland or throughout Europe has an A rating. Taking a step back from that, and based on some of the current proposals, it is a question of ensuring there are no G-rated buildings, which are the worst-performing buildings and comprise about 15% of the building stock. Another proposal is to focus on removing all the F-rated buildings. What we are starting to see is an effort to incentivise people and businesses to act and address the worst-performing buildings, namely those with G and F ratings, and eventually those with E ratings. That is coming down the tracks. In the other direction, we are trying to build the industry and supply chain at scale to address these matters.

Also at play when we talk about the energy performance building directives are two main directives of interest to us, namely the energy efficiency directive and the renewable energy directive. We talked about how microgeneration and renewables could contribute to large-scale decarbonisation, but also decarbonisation at home level. The energy performance of buildings directive will be seeking to boost renewables that are on-site or to achieve zero emissions on-site while having electricity coming in as well. We are very much aware of the interplay between the directives. We are working with our parent department with regard to them. This is our long-term goal for the State, but we are now focused on building the supply chain. Let us build momentum among homeowners and the public and commercial sectors so they will want to go on the journey of renovating homes by 2030.