Dr. Ciaran Byrne:

The SEAI has no direct role in local authority housing assistance payment inspections. I think the question was pivoted towards renters and things like that. What we call non-commercial landlords can participate in our schemes. Private landlords with one or two homes can participate in the scheme just like any other person. I understand - I am not 100% sure and will need to confirm - that the local finance options being rolled out will be available to non-commercial landlords as well. We do not have any direct role in inspections that may take place. A tax incentive of €10,000 for retrofitting was also introduced for landlords, to be offset against rental income. It is done through an approved scheme. There are some options for landlords, not all of them by any means, but some of them.

The average wait time to get from application to a survey is 12 months. At present, the time from application to works completed is 20 months. That varies, as the Senator can imagine. With the application rate increasing that timeline is going to go one way.

On the warmer homes scheme, we went to tender late last year. Around September we kicked off the new panel. The new panel was a €794 million tender. It is for €794 million, four years or both. One of the issues we have in following the guidelines is that it is a procured panel. The way that procurement works is that you open the door for a particular period of time, contractors come in, we appoint 36 and the door closes, so we have 36 on the panel. What we did, to the degree possible within the framework of legal and procurement agreements, is made it easier to engage subcontractors. While we cannot get additional contractors because it is a procured framework we can get the contractors to increase and widen their base by bringing on more subcontractors. In matter of fact that is how a lot of contractors start off. They do a bit of work as subcontractors, they start to build capacity and capability with two or three measures. When the next tender rolls around, they will then tender themselves. There is no plan at the moment for a new tender. We have just kicked off the old one and are working to that at the moment. However, there is the ability to bring in subcontractors.

On the issue of awareness and notification, my colleague Ms Buggie might want to comment on the warmer homes scheme. We take the point that there are people out there. We have heard it from the committee and the SVP and we know ourselves that they are living in a different space. They are not thinking about energy efficiency or schemes. They do not have the capabilities to look at these documents and things like that. I looked through the sustainable energy communities, SECs, and a lot of the retail work Ms Buggie is involved in. She might have a comment.