Mr. Jim Gannon:

Approximately 1.2% of the housing stock is at A3 or above. As in previous years, last year we produced the 2018 energy in the residential sector report. That goes into all the national statistics. We will forward it to the committee. Similarly, if the committee wishes we will forward an updated report on the different finance options in the residential sector that have been examined. I believe Deputy Eamon Ryan asked for it earlier. With regard to the different forms of finance, we are having that discussion with the credit unions. In terms of the Housing Finance Agency, it is one of the options being considered. Part of what the Deputy said would have reflected whether it should be delivered differently with a focus on energy efficiency or where one would just look at that product and say that a minimum performance should be A, B, C, D or E. It could be considered as a viable alternative.

Regarding the social housing sector, our programmes are very commoditised and are high volume in terms of transactions. Two years ago we wanted to focus on where we could deal with single point landlords or the equivalent. An accessible route for us was the stock of the local authorities and the approved housing bodies. For the last year and a half we have been working with them to examine their portfolio and start looking at a five, seven or ten-year plan to bring that up to the standard we would like. The building energy rating does not discern between social housing stock and otherwise, but that data acquisition is ongoing at present and it will be available. We will be happy to share it when it becomes available. Importantly, with some of our funding this year and at the behest of the Department we have started working with local authorities and housing bodies to see how we can move some of the funding more efficiently to a single group of homes with a single transaction as distinct from 1,500 homes through 1,500 different transactions. It becomes more important as we talk about building the supply chain.

A second matter that is not often discussed but must be is that if we can upskill our supply chain and get a very good insight into that social and public housing stock and if we enter a countercyclical economic downturn in the next one to three years, it is an incredible opportunity to retain skills and workers in this country, while investing in something we must do by 2030. At some point in the next decade there will be an economic downturn and if we are prepared to take advantage of that by tackling climate concerns, and if we have the models in place, it is a major opportunity to balance the supply chain and also to help us move towards 2030. We should not ignore that opportunity.