Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the scheme. I also commend the Minister and the Department on the work they have put into it. There is so much within it that is extremely positive and it is quite disheartening to hear Members opposite decry it and predict its failure before it has even begun. We have to recognise in addition to what Deputy Bruton has said that the scheme has a huge element of work that will see homes at risk of fuel poverty or in fuel poverty retrofitted in the coming years. These will be in addition to the 150,000 homes that have already been retrofitted under the free home energy upgrade scheme. In addition, the level of work that will be undertaken on homes at risk of fuel poverty will increase from 120 last year to 400 per annum, which is extremely welcome.

For those who find it difficult or impossible to borrow there are interim measures they can take. For instance, the 80% grant for those who wish to address their attic space or their cavity walls. This will almost pay for itself in one year. This is pretty fantastic when we consider the 25% saving in energy costs associated with the work that will be undertaken. It will leave a bill of approximately €500 for the homeowner to pay. If homeowners go through the one-stop shop that is to be established shortly, they will not have upfront costs. This is an excellent initiative which I commend.

We have an enormous amount of work to do to properly address the more than 1 million homes in the State that are not efficient in terms of the heat they retain or the manner in which they were built. It is incredibly important for us to recognise that targeting 500,000 homes in the next five years is extremely ambitious. There are funds being provided by the Department with responsibility for further and higher education to support the work of the education and training boards throughout the country. I have just come from a meeting with representatives from the education and training boards who referred to approximately €70 million capital funding per annum to invest in every county throughout the country to bolster the training courses available. This is to ensure the additional funds from the Department of approximately €31 million are provided to the sector for the near zero buildings of the future and all of the associated training courses. This will enlarge the number of individual builders who are capable of carrying out the work towards the 17,000 mark over the course of the next nine years.

In further recognition that it costs a lot of money to deep retrofit a home the State is stumping up 50%. In saying this, approximately €25,000 is a lot of money. This is why the delivery of the low-cost State-backed loan due to come on stream in the third quarter of this year cannot come soon enough. It is imperative the SEAI, as Deputy Bruton mentioned, is tasked with selling this. There are opportunities throughout the State to show great examples to people who might be sceptical about what it is like to live in a home that has near-zero heating bills. They have to cough up the money and find it somehow. Of course there are those for whom this might not be possible in the short term, but that might change in the near future. This is a nine-year plan. We will not be able to retrofit all of the homes in Ireland over the course of the next nine years. Clearly, there will be some who will be unable to avail of the deep retrofit. As has been mentioned, they can look at the other options available.

Oversight of the works that will be completed in this 500,000 home project over the next nine years is incredibly important to me. I have mentioned this to the Minister and he mentioned it in his opening contribution to the debate. Will all of the additional 50 staff he mentioned whom the SEAI will hire in the coming years be charged with delivering on the project or will they be inspecting? It is imperative we have confidence given the unfortunate legacy of the previous boom. The legacy on building standards must not find its way into scepticism about near-zero energy buildings, heat pumps and the like. I very much look forward to seeing the project being delivered. I commend the Minister and the Department.

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