Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

I thank Deputy Donnelly for his questions. The fundamental question was about the timelines for the two schemes. To be upfront, it is not really comparing apples with apples. In the region of 1,340 contractors are operating in the individual measures scheme, in which there is a menu of individual measures you can get done. Homeowners apply when they are ready. It is a virtually instantaneous application. The process is such that the only checks are to determine if applicants have got the grant before and whether they own the home. It is then up to the homeowners to engage with any number of contractors. They have a period of eight months in which to complete the works. The average cost in that scheme is somewhere between €6,000 and €8,000 with the grant covering €3,500 to €4,000 of the cost of the works. Under that scheme, people are typically getting a single measure done. Sometimes, they get two measures done.

On the warmer homes scheme, we went to procurement last September with a €794 million procurement. We brought in 36 contracting companies to do the works for us. We go through a survey process and allocate the homes to these construction companies. The timeline is effectively an artefact of the restraints in the sector. We went for public procurement and got 36 companies. If we had got 56 companies, we could do more but we got 36. That is part of the constraint as regards timelines.

The other piece relates to the contractors themselves. To make it work for contractors, over the last year, we have increased allocations to drive output. The contractors work on our schemes but they also work in the private and commercial sectors. As businesses, they will try to determine where they can make the most money on a given day so we have to make it reasonably attractive for them. As far as possible, we try to aggregate the homes, which is also an efficiency. Our waiting list operates on a first come, first served basis but we give a relatively large allocation to contractors so they can aggregate within that allocation and figure out where is best for them to go. When we give an allocation, we could give 50, 60 or 70 homes to a contractor. The contractor will then look at those homes and may decide to do all of the homes in Dublin or Cork for a couple of weeks before moving somewhere else to do the other homes. The companies really want to avoid sending a contractor from Dublin, to Cork, to Donegal, to Belfast - well, not to Belfast - and then to Mayo or wherever because that is totally inefficient. We try to aggregate insofar as possible. We make allocations on a frequent basis and have significantly increased the size of those allocations. For the information of the Deputy, the budget for the warmer homes scheme is the largest we have ever had. It was €148 million last year and will be just shy of €210 million this year. That has given us more latitude to allocate. Again, we are allowing the contractors to go and do the works. In fairness, we are putting them under severe pressure to deliver output for us. We have had that conversation. Mr. Randles and his team interact regularly with contractors to make sure we are driving the output. The last-----