Ms Clare O'Connor:

On the fully funded energy upgrade scheme specifically for people who are renting, we really need clarity on the minimum energy performance standards, which were announced under Housing for All to apply from 2025. We have no clarity as to what the minimum BER will be or what supports will be in place for landlords. A total of 70% of landlords in Ireland are single-property owners. We would like to see regulations brought forward such that multi-property owners are obligated to meet the minimum BERs first, giving a little more lead-in time for single-property owners. A consultation was done a couple of years ago by the Government on how to address the issue of the split incentive, whereby landowners do not have incentives to act on this issue. I understand there has not been any action in this regard since then. We would like to see action on the consultation that was done.