Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

It makes sense to replace existing windows with energy efficient ones. Many people live in the same house for 20 or 30 years and it is only logical that energy efficient improvements should be as effective as possible. The reason we selected certain insulation technologies and control systems for inclusion in the HES scheme was their very short payback period of typically three, four or five years. Investing in windows takes longer, sometimes taking 20 or 30 years to achieve payback. We wanted to get the most extensive return possible from the budget we have.

I am keeping the scheme under review to see how it works out. As I said, it has advantages in terms of employment generation as well as energy efficiency by providing jobs in the construction industry. I have asked SEI to report back to me after the first three months to see how the scheme is progressing, how we are using our budget and whether adjustments are required. I will await its advice before making any changes. The scheme is working as it was intended, although I would like to see applications coming in faster. I am confident that will happen as energy service companies begin to promote the scheme and find ways of getting large numbers of houses done quickly. I am not ruling out an extension to the scheme as proposed by the Deputy but I do not wish to raise his expectations. We will continue to monitor and review the scheme as we do with all such schemes on an ongoing basis.

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