Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The applicant added:

Information concerning the cost of carrying out the work came back and the amount of grant aid I would get. I decided to go ahead with the project. The home energy assessment was completed in August 2022. The one-stop shop contractor approved by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, then got each of its agents to come in and do the pricing for this project. In the first week of November 2022 [three months later], I got a price back with the contract start date. Between August and November 2022, the cost had gone up by 33%. The cost to me, as a homeowner, had gone up by 53%. The reality is that the home energy assessment is nothing but a three-card trick. The Government is extorting additional taxation out of people to carry out a home energy assessment which is not worth the paper it is written on. In fact, in my case, and the cases of many others, what it did was to discourage us. People postponed the carrying out of works on their homes, which would have reduced their energy costs last winter, because they went through this farcical process. This is a practical example of what is happening right across the country.

Does Dr. Byrne disagree with that?