Mr. Brian O'Mahony:

When we look back over the previous decade, as the Senator said, we would have seen a drop-off. A number of changes were made to the scheme whereby some of the grants were adjusted. As the Senator said, it was a very successful initial two-year period of what I believe at the time was called the home energy saving scheme.

What happened over time, as Dr. Byrne mentioned, is that people's perspectives and viewpoints changed coming out of the recession. There was, therefore, a behavioural aspect to this. In the last number of years, we have changed our focus to try to go to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. A discussion is happening today about shallow versus deep retrofitting. However, we are not only focused on this winter but on those in ten years' time or in 2050, by which time we want to have zero emissions in our residential sector.

There was a change approximately ten years ago. Since just before Covid-19 happened, however, we saw the numbers start to build again. There was a pause during Covid-19 but it has recovered rapidly this year. When we look into the supply chain, we see that the supply chain is responding and doing a really good job. There is a lag between when a homeowner is interested and when the supply chain can respond, but suppliers are doing that. We are now seeing capacity starting to be added.