Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been a fair bit of repetition. What people want to see, and what the witnesses are looking for themselves on some level, is work on decarbonisation and what can be done to deal with the cost-of-living or energy crisis. We need a grant scheme that provides the best bang for our buck, particularly for those who cannot afford it but most need it. There is a general notion in this room about delivering that. There is a specific piece of work that needs to be done across the board.

As regards the heat loss indicator survey and that thing that was spoken about for a long time, an awful lot of people said that the only thing that really mattered for decarbonisation was not so much retrofitting but getting the cosy effect from the likes of heat pumps. I noticed prior to energy costs going through the roof when someone opened the door one when I was canvassing on a newly-built estate, I would be whacked by the heat coming out the house and the residents would speak about how great that situation was but I probably was not getting the environmental impact whatever about the cost savings and how comfortable the heat was. The issue is delivering that. It is finding the exact mix and what is needed to ensure a house is airtight enough that a heat pump will work.

It has been mentioned that the survey will take a number of years but information will be forthcoming fairly quickly. How quickly can we get an indication of a fit-for-purpose system that can do real business from the point of view of decarbonisation while ensuring that there are cost savings? I get the point that there is a particular way that people must operate heat pumps because at the moment electricity also costs a huge amount. It is wanting to be airtight versus getting a high BER rating, etc.