Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses very much for the report. It seems there are a great many things going on behind the scenes between interdepartmental groups, action plans, heat plans etc. I want to go back to the point made at the very beginning which was about fairness for access to the retrofitting. I still do not believe that fairness is there. Has the interdepartmental group looked at this again because at the end of the day the calculations, I believe, are that each retrofit will cost between €14,000 and €66,000? I have heard reports back from some people where it will cost nearly €80,000 or €90,000, as 50% of the costs are given in grants. For many people they cannot actually afford to get that retrofitting yet we are paying the carbon tax. Only people who have money can do this, where, as has been said already; they have their electric car, their solar panels, retrofitting and all of that. Affordability is key for people to buy into the whole concept of climate change and the Government’s responsibility towards the nation from that point of view. Has thought been given that the State must pay the full cost for every home in an equitable manner? That is something which we very much need to look at.

The other thing which always strikes me about retrofitting is that one might have one house on a road being done so, for example, in Drimnagh, on Keeper Road and another house is being done up the road on Comeragh Road and yet we know that there are many houses, for example local authority houses, in between where the efficiency of rolling in the retrofitting has to be looked at.

I believe that if one went into every estate and moved through the country house-by-house on retrofitting, that would be much more efficient than people applying for such work to be done under the SEAI, and tenants waiting for the council to come in. Dublin City Council has said that from the figures it had, that it will retrofit 200 housing units per year. To me, that is due to the lack of efficiency where this work is not being done road by road. The council is not going into an estate and covering all local authority houses at the same time and then moving on to another estate. Has that been looked at? That approach will also cover schools and community centres where all areas could be included. This could also be done in parishes in rural areas. Can I have some feedback from our witnesses on that, please, because that is an important part of this retrofitting along with the concept that we have a climate problem? We need to put resources into ensuring that retrofitting is high on the agenda, with the impact that it has on health, fuel costs, and carbon emissions. We know that fuel energy in people’s homes is causing major problems.

My other question is on smart meters. I have a smart meter. I sat down and tried to work out what the best package for me would be. I gave up after about 20 minutes or half an hour as it was just a difficult process to go through for me. I am just about half tech savvy but for many people who are not tech savvy, that is not an option for them. To echo the point that was made earlier on with regard to the councils, there should be an adviser who would be able to get that information out to people on how to use a smart meter and on how efficient it can be. Something should be looked at in that area to make that more efficient and effective for people. It is a great deal of work and is nearly like coming home to do a day’s work again.