Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O’Donnell for raising this important issue. It is important and timely because the new scheme is under consideration and will be brought to the House quite soon. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, was unable to make the debate, but I will feed in the comments and issues the Deputy has raised because he is right on waiting times, giving greater access to the scheme, reforming the scheme, dealing with ventilation and solar panels and many other issues. This scheme is targeted with a significant amount of money around making our homes safer, warmer, healthier places to live in, and more efficient to run to play their part in relation to emissions and to make it more affordable for people to live in these homes. Those are the aims of the scheme and it will be updated and brought by the Minister to the House soon. I will feed in the Deputy's comments to make sure they are heard.

The programme for Government and the climate action plan have set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a building energy rating of B2 and install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next number of years. These targets represent a significant increase in both the volume and depth of retrofit activity in Ireland. The recently published national retrofit plan sets out how we will achieve these targets and identifies an unprecedented €8 billion to support homeowners to retrofit their homes out to 2030.

The better energy warmer homes scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households vulnerable to energy poverty. It is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. Since the start of the scheme, more than 143,000 homes have received free upgrades. In 2021, the average cost of the energy efficiency measures provided per household was €17,100. Activity under this scheme and the associated expenditure were significantly impacted in 2020 and 2021 by the Covid pandemic.

The Deputy raised the issue of the 18-month timeline, which is longer in some cases. That is not acceptable and we want to get back on track with that. It has been hit by Covid, which has affected the number of houses that could be reached.

The budget 2022 allocation for energy poverty schemes, including the better energy warmer homes scheme, is €109 million.

The SEAI’s business plan for 2022 is currently being examined by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme were selected because they represented the view of the Department at the time on those areas where the limited resources available to the scheme could have the greatest impact. The Deputy was right to say they need to be looked at again. The criteria are kept under ongoing review with the Department of Social Protection to ensure they are consistent with and complementary to the other income support schemes offered by that Department.

There are currently just over 7,000 homes awaiting works on the better energy warmer homes scheme work programme. This includes homes that are currently undergoing works, homes that have been allocated to contractors for works, homes that have completed an initial home survey and are awaiting allocation to a contractor and homes that are awaiting an initial survey.

Until 2018, as the Deputy referenced, the scheme predominantly focused on delivering shallow measures, such as attic or cavity wall insulation. In many cases, where the walls were not cavity walls, only the attic was insulated. With the expansion of the scheme in 2018, internal and external wall insulation were introduced, which meant that solid wall properties could now receive insulation under the scheme. However, in line with the current one home, one visit rule, which the Deputy referenced, where a home has already received any works, it cannot receive further works under the scheme. This rule was introduced to help to manage demand for the scheme and ensure homes that had not previously benefitted from the scheme were prioritised. With the scheme expansion, many homeowners who only received attic insulation previously but who would, under current scheme rules, qualify for wall insulation began contesting the one home, one visit rule. The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications committed to review the rule and, in line with the Deputy's request, will assess the possibility of allowing second visits to homeowners. That is important and essential. Recommendations on the implementation of changes to the scheme to better target those most in need will be finalised shortly and brought to the House by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

The provisions of the new national home retrofit scheme are currently being finalised. The new scheme will focus on the delivery of B2 retrofits with heat pumps as well as the development and expansion of the one-stop shop and retrofit market. That will reflect the request the Deputy has put forward today. I will make sure that the points the Deputy has made will be brought to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, tomorrow.

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