Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to mention one measure to the Minister of State that the PRTB should be doing. It is a legal requirement that after January 2009, any dwelling that is rented should have an energy rating. However, this requirement is not being enforced. The State is training people in this area of energy rating, installation, retrofit and so on, but while 30 or 40 such individuals in my constituency will qualify in May 2013, there are no jobs for them because the requirement for energy ratings is not being enforced and, following on from that, a national installation programme is not being rolled out sufficiently rapidly. There would be an employment dividend in so doing, as well as a dividend for tenants, many of whom are living in substandard accommodation in which there is no proper insulation and where it is damp, cold and so on. The Government should examine this issue and should enforce what is the law. In addition, the Government would be obliged to control rents to ensure landlords did not pass on the cost of such enforcement to the tenants. The way to do this would be to roll out the pay-as-you-save scheme on installation in order that there would be an incentive for landlords to retrofit and insulate their homes without incurring a long-term cost.

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