Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We support what is coming forward here today and I believe that this is the second meeting of this committee where we are agreeing with the Minister of State. Last week, we discussed maternity and sick leave for councillors.

Sometimes people are looking at politicians and only see the adversarial way, especially when one looked at the budget this week and the disagreements but there are many things on which we can agree and on which we can work together constructively. This is an area where it has probably taken us too long to get to where we are, but we are here now. It is a positive move that we all support and want to see implemented. We support the regulations the Minister of State is bringing forward.

I will raise a few issues. Recently I spoke with a 72-year-old woman who has a two-bedroomed terraced house. When she took the grants for the solar and retrofitting, the cost was still coming out at €59,000. In the whole area of the installation of solar panels we are seeing that the grant for these panels, I believe, is being reduced now to €2,400 from €3,000. Can the Minister of State clarify that point for me, please?

The average cost for the installation of solar panels was €7,000. Now, with the increased capacity that people can now put on their roofs, one will obviously see the cost increase. This will not be affordable for many people. On one side we are increasing the capacity, which is a good thing and something we all support. On the other side then, it will be outside the ability of many people to install these solar panels. It there something we can do or that the Government is looking at to see how we can bridge that gap?