Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to address the reasons as to why this retrofitting programme is so important. Why do we want to do this? There are many reasons. We want Irish people to live in warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes. In the context of health, asthma symptoms are reduced in warmer homes. Mould conditions increase the severity of asthma and retrofitting, particularly the ventilation aspect, reduces the conditions for mould to grow. Retrofitting results in less outdoor pollution and, therefore, fewer hospitalisations caused by strokes and heart attacks. The WHO says that improving indoor air temperature decreases mortality rates. More than €109 million of the Department's €267 million budget this year, is allocated to the warmer home scheme, which provides free energy upgrades to people who are in receipt of a social welfare payment, such as the fuel allowance, carers allowance, or working family payment. Some €84 million is dedicated to retrofitting 2,400 social housing homes this year, 50% grants are available for deep retrofits and 80% of the costs can be recovered on individual energy upgrades such as attic and cavity wall insulation, as the Minister said.

Another primary reason we should undertake this ambitious plan is because we want to reduce our dependence on imported energy. At present, 88% of our energy is imported and much of this is used to heat our homes. Reliance on imported energy leaves Irish people vulnerable to the vagaries of international energy markets, to geopolitical events over which we have no control. We are seeing that happen now on the other side of the European continent in the Ukrainian crisis. This escalation of military activity is driving the cost of natural gas to levels never seen before, and Irish people are paying these costs when heating their homes. We need to protect Irish people from this price volatility, not just this year with the €200 payment relating to electricity costs and the increased fuel allowance but we want to reduce the costs forever and for everyone, including the elderly, families, homeowners, and people in rented accommodation.

We must do this for critical environmental reasons. The planet is burning. Global temperatures are rising to levels never seen before and this will continue. Climate change is happening right now and it is causing catastrophic impacts throughout our world. It is set to get worse. It is set to threaten all life on this planet in the coming decades, within the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as natural gas and oil, to heat our homes and our buildings. The by-product of burning these fuels is the release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and trapping heat within it, thus causing the planet to heat up. In Ireland, about 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are released every year in this way. We must reduce that amount by half within this decade and bring it to nought by 2050.

Retrofitting is fundamentally about reducing and removing, in as far as possible, the need for energy to heat our homes. Homes that are built now are required to be built to the near zero energy building, NZEB, standard. Many new homes have gone further than this and have been built to the passive house standard. These standards for new homes are not enough to achieve what we need to achieve. We have to look at the existing housing stock and address energy dependence within it. That is what retrofitting is about. By reducing imported fossil fuel energy, we will take real and substantial action on climate, improve people's lives, reduce costs to our people and our country and we will protect ourselves from external shocks. It is a win-win-win situation.

There are 1.2 million homes in the State that need to be retrofitted. This plan will kick-start that enormous task. We will retrofit 500,000 homes this decade to B2 standard or higher. When a home is retrofitted, in most cases there will still be a requirement for energy, although the need will be greatly reduced. This residual energy demand in homes will be provided by renewable electricity, some of it through microgeneration such as solar panels on the roofs of homes, but most of it through our national grid as Ireland harnesses its vast renewable energy resources.

Home heating in new and existing homes will be electric, renewable and clean. The immense retrofitting challenge brings immense opportunity. We will need about 17,000 workers in this sector. Young people leaving school should think seriously about this path. We will need engineers, tradespeople and other construction workers. Those already in the workforce contemplating a change in career should consider this new, rapidly evolving sector. There is opportunity everywhere.

Retrofitting is about addressing the demand side of energy; the other side of the coin is the supply side. To fully address the challenge of climate change we should be and are looking at both. There are vast opportunities on both sides. Everybody in this House should understand that and the message should go across society. Ireland has shown itself to be a world leader in renewable electricity development. We will be world leaders in all aspects of energy, including retrofitting. This is an exciting plan which points Ireland to a cleaner and better future.

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