Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a low interest grant scheme for retrofit. I understand the rate is about 3%. The idea is that people receive half the money as a grant from the State and the borrow the other portion at a low interest rate. I do not think it applies to solar alone. People have to be doing a comprehensive retrofit, which is more expensive. I take the Deputy's point on that.

We are putting solar panels on every school in the country. There are 4,000 schools and we have completed work on about 1,000. That project came in about 20% less expensive than we expected, which is an example of how the State is succeeding in rolling out a project which did not get much coverage. We started with 11 counties. People will see solar panels on the roofs of those schools, saving them money and generating income for them during the summer when the kids are off school. The pilot phase comprised 1,000 schools; the next 3,000 schools are due to start next month.