Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I stated, it is welcome, but I wish to put on the record that these boilers can be converted for as little as €200 and will reduce emissions drastically. Carbon tax is not a very popular topic in these Houses but, of the €9.5 billion over the life of the national development plan, approximately €5 billion will be reinvested into retrofitting programmes such as those we are discussing. I ask the Minister of State to provide clarity regarding the SEAI and the grant system it currently runs. Am I right in saying that anyone who has previously availed of an SEAI grant is unable to log a second request or application? Is that likely to be reviewed or changed? That is my understanding at present. As regards the full retrofit programme, many of the heat pumps that it is proposed to install in properties have a life expectancy of seven to ten years. We need to be cognisant of that in terms of affordability into the future and providing loans or other measures to people.

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