Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will go back to retrofitting. I spoke recently to a person who works with one of those contractors. I asked him about the types of houses they are working in. He confirmed something that I suspected and which really goes to the core of this issue. He felt it was reasonably well-off people who were getting retrofitting done. Such people had access to money. They would be able to get access to a loan and manage it. He pointed out that the people in poorer, and probably colder, houses cannot do that. They feel they are frozen out of it, if the Minister will pardon the pun. He pointed out that one house he went to already had solar panels installed a number of years ago. They were clearly people who had that particular agenda in mind. That is wonderful, but they could clearly afford to do it.