Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has heard from my colleagues about the failures to date. I will list another one. In early August 2020, Kevin and Yvonne Conroy left their home just outside Mullingar to have a deep retrofit programme done. Today, almost 26 months later, they remain out of their home. Words simply cannot describe the severe emotional and financial distress experienced by this family, whom members of the Government, including the Minister, and the SEAI are aware of. Their experience has been nothing other than utterly horrendous and has, to my mind, shown the SEAI in an extremely poor light.

The initial complaint was made in December 2020. It took until November 2021 for Kevin and Yvonne to be assured that they were a priority and that they would be back in their home without further delay. February this year brought more promises from the SEAI, but from March to September the grant agreement remained in limbo, with correspondence unanswered, delays, false promises and an independent project manager withdrawn. This is simply not good enough. There needs to be systemic reform of the SEAI to ensure confidence because we need an effective retrofit plan to help reduce emissions and deliver wider social and economic benefits. That is not the experience of the Conroy family, who want back into their home rather than to be facing their third Christmas out of it. Today there is no start date, contract or signed grant agreement, meaning that the estimated completion date of February 2023, which simply cannot be met without a signed grant agreement, is not confirmed.

The litany of failures in this case is matched only by the litany of broken promises and deadlines. Where is the oversight and accountability? This is happening with the full knowledge of the Government. The lack of intervention is utterly astounding and should not be tolerated. I ask the Minister to take a more proactive step. Will he come to Mullingar and see for himself the impact the SEAI's delays and the effect that dealing with a cowboy builder who leaves a house in tatters has on a family? I am talking about a builder who the family sourced from the SEAI's own website.

This afternoon, before coming into the Chamber, I learned that they are not alone. There are other families who had the same builder in similar circumstances.

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