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

The average cost of retrofitting a house is approximately €53,000. It can be €70,000 or €80,000 for older houses to get them up to the highest building energy rating, BER. If someone is wealthy, the mooted changes in grants will benefit him or her. They might allow someone to cover the difference between €25,000 and €53,000 or more. However, the hardest hit by the energy price hikes will simply not have the money.

The social housing retrofit programme is a joke. In my area last year, 1% of the social housing stock was retrofitted. There are similar targets for this year. For those in private rented accommodation, this offers absolutely nothing. Why does the Government, therefore, not get the State to invest in the retrofitting of all homes on a much bigger scale, upfront, so we will generate savings further down the line that benefit both the climate and the householder?

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