Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Theoretically, I am told, there are 1 million homes that would benefit from retrofit, in that the quality of the housing stock in this county is so poor that there are some 1 million homes that could be productively retrofitted.

The objective here is that we are committed to making the transition from the grants-based scheme to a pay-as-you-save model by 1 January. Therefore, the scheme will have to be promulgated long in advance of that. The significance of the figures of €35 million and €70 million the Deputy mentions is that we need to construct the funds so that more than 50% is from the private sector. If we can, we have to contrive to keep the fund off the State's books because there are constraints on us in terms of the spending ceilings. I understand the indications from the private sector are that there is a lot of work and many contracts in this and, therefore, it would be a productive investment by that sector.

Deputy Catherine Murphy's question goes further and concerns whether we can go outside the State to augment that fund, and I believe there are definite possibilities in that regard.

The SEAI attic insulation grant has been very successful for senior citizens but it is flawed in that private home owners can get it but not council tenants. Fuel poverty is a major concern for everybody here and pay-as-you-save is an excellent scheme but the local authority tenant should be able to access that scheme. Has the Minister considered a way to allow these tenants access it? Is there a target date for the implementation of pay-as-you-save?

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