Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

On the last point, which related to renoviction, we had a lot of interaction with various committees at SEAI level when we reintroduced the grants in 2022. Virtually none of the insulation or retrofitting works require people to leave the home, with the exception of underfloor heating, which is relatively rare and attracts a lower amount of grant funding, and insulating the entire interior. In those cases, the house has to effectively be pulled apart and people do leave. The vast bulk of grant applications for our schemes are not for those works so we have not seen it.

On the example the Deputy mentioned, I obviously cannot get into the specifics of market forces and what companies may or not charge in rent but this idea of the split incentive, the renter versus the tenant, is common across Europe. Many people in Europe who have looked over the financial situation have said that if landlords pay for the renovation, they will get some of that money back in increased rent. There are parameters around that, however. The idea of increasing rents to support the cost of renovation is not necessarily the worst thing. It is a question of the scale, which is a different piece. The Cathaoirleach has mentioned a policy that could be looked at in that regard. However, the idea of using rents charged to help to pay for renovations for multi-use developments is common enough in Europe. However, we obviously do not want to lean into the private rental side because we cannot comment on that.