Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

Strictly speaking, we do not advise the Department but we have had interaction with it and share our programme costs with it. We have shared our programme costs with local authorities. Some of the costings pertain to their procurement model and contractors. We have a fully funded scheme where we pay the full amount. We also have the private grants scheme. We see what grant amount we put in but also what the costs are in the market. We share information and say what we think we should be paying in this context.

The Deputy mentioned inflation, something we are very close to. We are watching the entire construction sector. The wholesale price index for construction materials went up year on year for 2022 by about 15.5% or 16% but within that, certain measures like insulation, pipe work and plumbing materials went up by 25%, 30% and 40%. That is part of the reason why we looked at our warmer homes scheme and put in two inflationary increases.