Dáil debates

Thursday, 17 February 2022

National Retrofitting Scheme: Statements

 

3:40 pm

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the scheme that has been presented to the House. It was a critical element of the programme for Government for Fianna Fáil and for me. It is the first real tangible link that has been made for households between the carbon tax revenue and their transition, beyond the existing warmer homes scheme, and we welcome the improvements announced to that scheme as well. I am particularly conscious of the 80% grant for works costing up to €3,000 to accommodate endeavours such as attic insulation, cavity insulation and draughtproofing of windows and doors. It is essential that an incremental option has been included for people to allow them to improve their retrofitting in a piecemeal process. This measure can allow the achievement of initial savings of 30% in heating costs and a 25% reduction in carbon emissions.

I am conscious there is provision within the initiative for a cross-party steering group to be established to monitor the progress of the scheme. I ask that it be conscious of the targets being set concerning the 50% grant, which has a maximum amount set at €25,000 for overall spending of €50,000. In the event of that measure not realising the ambitious outcome it seeks to achieve, I ask that there be an option for the increase in the 80% grant to a greater amount than €3,000. I ask that it be increased to perhaps €6,000, €7,000 or €8,000 to accommodate the replacement of windows and doors. I also ask that the Government now move to address the issue of hydrotreated vegetable oils, HVO, and for them to be classified and designated as sustainable fuels, as they are in the UK and in the North. They are also having an impact on the reduction of emissions in households, at the expense of a couple of hundred euro spent on the alteration of oil burners.

I again acknowledge the ambition contained in the programme for the electrification of heating and the provision of many household heat pumps. I am also conscious, of course, that we have an energy crisis now. Equally, I am conscious that 40% of our renewables are accounted for by land-based wind generation. When the wind does not blow, then great pressure is placed on the system. Wholesale energy prices rise severely in that context. Prices are also of course impacted because of our reliance on international gas supplies. We are aware of the pressure in that regard and the impact it is having on inflation.

The Government should now begin the process of moving urgently towards the provision of an offshore wind supply. The IDA should be directed to realise the ambition of harnessing the abundance of potential wind energy that is available off our shores to create what could be a European supergrid. Off our south and east coasts, we have the potential to generate 15 GW of energy; 1 GW provides enough energy to power 750,000 homes. We have up to 100 GW of potential energy off our west coast. Floating turbines would make up 75% of that total. There is potential here to generate an industry over the next 20 to 30 years which would be worth €300 billion, which is the size of our economy today. We could potentially be at the start of a pipeline providing energy. This would be in addition to the southern parts of Europe, which have an abundance of solar power.

This is the sort of initiative we need to ensure we will not be sending out the message that data centres, for example, are compromising this country. We cannot, on the one hand, be attracting the best in technological expertise and companies while, on the other hand, saying they cannot store their data in this country. I urge the Government and those in positions of power within it to move towards directing this country along the path of creating a European supergrid, which would have the potential to address the energy deficiencies we are witnessing now.

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