Ms Ruth Buggie:

The sustainable energies community programme has been running since 2015. We go out to engage with and enable citizens all across Ireland in respect of the various steps they can take in their own energy efficiency journey. Currently, there are 800 communities across Ireland that we provide free mentoring to and provide 100% support to develop energy master plans. That can identify those solutions in their own areas. From a data and insight point of view, there is a BER map for all of Ireland, down to small areas, so you can really see where the challenges lie. We are overlaying our energy master plan data and that on where community activity is to make sure that we are getting into the areas that need the most support. We are working with local development companies on how we can resource more action in those areas that need the most support.

We do a lot of outreach work. I have a colleague who is in Kildare today and who will be in Galway on Saturday. I will be in Tipperary tomorrow. We are doing community-focused retrofit events where we talk about all the grants that are available and the steps that people will take, including from the point of view of behaviour. We talk about more simple steps and do awareness-raising as well as grants, because not everybody is ready for a grant and not everyone is eligible for one. In that sense we are using the Stay Warm and Well campaign that the Government launched last year. It is about really giving people information about how they can make the most of the home they have if they are in the process of waiting for a grant, and guiding them on which grants can have the most impact for them.