Mr. Paul Kenny:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present to it. I will focus primarily on retrofitting homes. To remind members, our 2050 climate change targets are essentially that we achieve 80% to 95% less in carbon emissions. In light of the situation in agriculture and aviation, we will need to decarbonise our homes. The context of my presentation will be the question of how to do that. It is important to point out that we are far off trajectory and that we will not get back on it unless we make a significant change in what we do.

A deep retrofit means that a home will no longer use carbon fuels, will be energy efficient and - given that homes can be retrofitted poorly, leading to mould, damp and so on - healthy to live in. In collaboration with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, the national energy agency, the ESB and others, we established a programme that we originally titled the nearly zero energy building retrofit. Our communications officer decided that was not catchy, so we called it SuperHomes. Its aim is the 2050 home. Approximately 75 homes have been retrofitted to date with support from the SEAI. Under it, the average home is heated for €200 to €300 and is healthy inside. People who have spent €15,000 or €20,000 under the programme are telling us that, even if they save nothing, it is the best money they have ever spent. A retrofitted home means it is lovely, warm, comfortable and healthy. It is important for people to understand that this is what we need to do to every home. Small amounts of attic or wall insulation are insufficient to get us to where we need to be. Consumer acceptance of that is high.

We set up and trained an independent, expert-led renovation contractor panel. We are using heat pumps. We have a research arm, with three Limerick Institute of Technology researchers working full-time on improving SuperHomes. The European Investment Bank, EIB, has given us a substantial amount of money to scale us upwards. As such, this is not a small project. It has global aims. From the EU has emerged the idea of a one-stop-shop, where homeowners can access information, grants, finance and so on.

It is a question of how to get to where we need to be and ensuring that everyone understands. Slide No. 3 of my presentation shows the carbon intensity of heating a home using gas, oil and heat pumps today and in 2035 based on EirGrid's analysis of where our grid will be. Using oil, solid peat, coal or gas to heat homes while also trying to meet our climate targets is not an option.

To make this happen, we need to consider finance and the levers that we can use. For example, we can use grants, which we have in place, and taxation in the form of carbon taxes. These taxes are not particularly popular, but we need to understand that, if we do not price carbon, we will not remove it from society. The third lever of low-cost finance is an important one. If someone can pay to upgrade a home for €60 or €100 per month after the energy savings, it will be easy to convince people to move from a D energy rating to an A rating because of the comfort benefit. That is the point we need to reach if we are to get finance into the market, including low-cost finance from the banks. The EIB has a great deal of money to put into this space. We need to have market demand so that financiers will supply the right products and services. To do that, we need a stable policy framework, carbon pricing and a long-term plan. Low-cost finance will get this to happen.

Last week's discussion focused somewhat on solar energy. The average Irish home uses 4,000 units of electricity, to which solar could contribute, and 18,000 units of heat. We need to focus on the latter because Ireland has done little in that regard as opposed to electricity, in which regard we have done much. I would be supportive of solar, but it must be approached in line with the decarbonisation of homes. A building's energy transition entails getting rid of its fossil fuel boiler rather than just putting up a bit of window dressing in the form of solar panels on a roof. Solar is still necessary, but it is only a part of the solution. That solution involves heat pumps, electric cars and solar.