Mr. John McCarthy:

The imposition of a minimum BER standard for rental properties could be considered once there is greater clarity on the level of supports and incentives to be put in place to bring properties up to standard for use. If the two were not moving in tandem, particular requirements could be imposed. I spoke to Deputy Thomas Pringle about the fact that the cost of retrofitting the social housing stock could be between €20,000 and €30,000 per unit. If a requirement was imposed that gave rise to that level of cost without some mechanism for the investment to be supported, units could be taken out of the rental stock, which might create a problem. It is more about how the two can move forward in tandem.