Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

Quite a few questions were posed by the Deputy. Regarding the schemes, a significant portion of the budget, half of it to 2030, is dedicated to the warmer homes scheme and the fuel poverty scheme. On the can-pay sector, if we want to call it that, we have two programmes. The one-stop shop deals with all the measures in one go. We also have individual measures schemes, where homeowners can choose to avail of individual measures depending on their resources. Additionally, in February, the Minister launched 80% grants for attic and cavity wall insulation. As part of our package when we launched that scheme, we carried out quantity surveys to determine how much the costs would be for the archetypal home and found it to be approximately €2,500. This means a project of this kind will be grant funded to the tune of approximately €2,000. The €500 it will cost to undertake a typical attic and wall cavity insulation project, when we price it out with credit union or An Post loans, is relatively affordable. Therefore, we are considering all parts of the can-pay sector. It is not really a case of "The more you have, the more you get". We have a fixed grant menu. That is not allocated on the basis of house size; we have done it by house archetype, namely, detached, semi-detached, bungalow, terraced or apartment.

On the waiting list for the warmer homes scheme, as I mentioned earlier, we have 5,700 homes on the list and a target to complete 4,800 homes this year. We have a legal framework in place and we must work within it, and that is somewhat restrictive. I am working with the contractors to deliver in this respect, including examining and understanding the impact of inflation and changing some of the operating models so we can improve their cash flow and delivery and outputs from the scheme. Ideally, we wish to increase the number of subcontractors working with the main contractor on the scheme to clear the backlog.

Deputy Cronin also mentioned the rental sector. To be clear, the one-stop shop grants and the better energy home grants are open to non-commercial landlords. Owners of a small number of properties can avail of the grants. Equally, retrofitting works do not require people to be evicted from their homes. We have not heard any reports directly of people having been evicted as the result of retrofitting works being carried out, but the RTB has many statutory powers in this area and it is putting processes in place in this regard.

Turning to the affordability aspect, we touched earlier on low-interest loans and these are going to be a significant contributor in this regard. We are talking about Government-backed loans. The key premise here is that the Government takes a share of the risk, and this means that the interest rate charged can be much less than normal market rates. We believe those low-interest loans will be a game changer for all parts of the can-pay sector in respect of retrofitting.