Mr. William Walsh:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend the meeting today to discuss the SEAI financial statements for 2020. I am joined today by my SEAI colleagues - Ms Marion O'Brien, director of corporate services; Dr. Ciaran Byrne, director of national retrofit; and Mr. Declan Meally , director of business, public sector and transport. To assist the discussion today and in line with the letter of invitation, we submitted some briefing material to the committee earlier this week. I thank the committee for the opportunity to make an opening statement.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is at the forefront of delivering a low-carbon economy through measures and activities focused on the transition to a smarter and more sustainable energy future. SEAI is funded by the Government of Ireland through its parent Department, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and the Department of Transport. In 2022, our budget allocation is more than €440 million.

SEAI operates to the highest level of effective corporate governance. We were the first organisation in Europe, private or public, certified by the National Standards Authority of Ireland to the SWiFT 3000 standard and maintain this governance certification annually.

In an environment where accountability, transparency and probity are fundamental to SEAI's licence to operate, we work hard to apply best-practice governance processes that deliver consistently high levels of assurance around compliance with relevant laws, regulations and the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.

Like others, SEAI had to adapt to the unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19. Our staff responded in an agile way, ensuring continuity of service while working remotely. Given the disruption to normal life in 2020, fewer homeowners, communities and businesses availed of grants, such that expenditure across SEAI's various programmes decreased by around 15% year on year. Much of our work requires access to citizens' homes. Given the nature of Covid-19, access to homes was very restricted during 2020. Thankfully, with fewer restrictions, SEAI's support programmes rebounded strongly in 2021, resulting in the highest ever levels of expenditure by SEAI. This year is set to be another year of significant growth in activity levels.

SEAI puts citizens, communities, suppliers and other stakeholders at the heart of everything it delivers. We focus on developing collaborative partnerships, strong engagement and smooth customer journeys for the public we serve. We provide expert advice to drive positive change through our analysis, modelling and support for policymaking. We are catalysts for action through grant and incentive programmes we deliver and through our capacity-building processes with citizens, communities and the business and public sectors. Pursuing our mission, we collaborate closely with a wide range of stakeholders, including Departments and State agencies. We have had a major and transformative impact on the Irish economy. In the past decade, our actions have underpinned more than €1.2 billion in energy savings.

Ireland now has even more ambitious targets and we have been scaling up our operations to meet the challenge. In the past three years, we have added capacity to deliver capital expenditure programmes and enhance support to our parent Department. Meeting Ireland's energy and climate targets will require further significant investment by the Government and SEAI is playing a major part, alongside others, to get Ireland on the right track regarding our UN COP21 Paris Agreement commitment trajectory.

SEAI is at the heart of delivering on the Government's Climate Action Plan 2021. The plan sets ambitious goals for 2030, including 80% renewable electricity, 600,000 heat pumps, 500,000 B2 home upgrades, almost 1 million electric vehicles, a new microgeneration scheme, large emission reductions in our public service and enterprise sectors and increased investment in research and innovation.

At SEAI, we have a unique vision for the role we will play in delivering Ireland's energy revolution. This requires fundamental change across all Irish society. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the security of supply and cost implications of Ireland's reliance on fossil fuel imports have become very real. This further underpins the urgency of our energy transition. We are collaborating with colleagues in our parent Department and State agencies to mitigate the cost and security of supply impacts that will affect all of society. Through energy independence, we can remove our reliance on imported fossil fuels, lower our carbon emissions and secure our future. The global pandemic had devastating impacts in Ireland and globally, but the resulting limitations demonstrated that collective and cohesive action can have a significant impact on our energy-consumption behaviours.

The way in which we live must change, but it will be a change for the better. This change will mean our buildings will be warm, comfortable and not heated by oil or gas. Our communities will be leading the generation of renewable energy and our transport fleet will be electrified, charged by a renewable-energy-powered electricity system. Sustainable energy needs to be the norm. The quicker we achieve this, the sooner the broad range of benefits will flow to Irish citizens and businesses in the form of cheaper-to-run, warmer and healthier buildings, improved air quality, increased competitiveness, improved security of energy supply and many others. At SEAI, we are acutely aware that the energy transition must be a just transition. This is carefully considered across our programmes of delivery, research and policy advice.

SEAI has a strong body of evidence to illustrate the costs and benefits of the sustainable energy transition. It is based on research and expertise from two decades of programme delivery. We are clear that, for much of what is needed, the benefits far outweigh the costs, especially when the multiple benefits — financial, economic, employment, health, security of supply and environmental — are considered.

We passionately believe clean energy transition must happen and we stand ready to support all of Irish society on the journey. The demands on Ireland's energy and environment require us to work at pace and to deliver ever greater results, learning and improvements. This work is key to driving Ireland's contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, securing a healthy planet for future generations.

I thank our colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Transport for their ongoing support, particularly in the context of the actions assigned to SEAI under the Climate Action Plan 2021.

I acknowledge the strategic leadership provided by the board members of SEAI, particularly their support in developing a new statement of strategy for the organisation. The statement will be published shortly. I pay tribute to the staff of SEAI for their commitment and dedication, particularly for their efforts and support as we addressed the significant challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are a strong and fully co-ordinated team, ready to embrace the next stage of our development. In collaboration with key stakeholders, we will co-ordinate and lead the efforts to achieve the ambitious targets set out in Climate Action Plan 2021 and the national development plan.

I welcome the discussion with the committee and am happy to answer any questions members may wish to raise.