Mr. Ciarán Nugent:

On retrofits, there are opportunities, particularly in the midlands. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, produced a document with the help of NERI some months ago on the possibility of rolling out a trainee scheme and an information campaign through Bord na Móna for homeowners and residents of the midlands first and foremost. The midlands could develop capacity in that depressed central region in the area of retrofits. There is evidence of a significant number of inactive ex-tradespersons who were affected by the financial crisis. It would not be too big a jump to reskill some Bord na Móna workers in addition to some of the glut of inactive former workers. That could be of benefit to the roll-out of a State-led and funded scheme to retrofit the entire public housing and social stock, as well as schools and so on. The properties could be fitted with solar panels and a scheme put in place to allow the energy generated to be sold back to the grid. These are things that have been talked about for a long time but on which there has been little movement.

On the group of households a little further up the income ladder, in some countries low-interest loans are available from the state, although I do not have the detail with me. Grants have been made available here but they are not being taken up at a rate which will lead to us reaching any of our targets. The State could front-end the cost, which could then be recovered from electricity bills over the course of 20 years if we got sign-up in that regard from some of the semi-State bodies.