Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Ten years ago, in 2012, I had the opportunity to formulate a detailed and costed plan to deep retrofit 1.4 million houses in this State that were still, at the time, in need of deep insulation, in addition to the 130,000 non-residential buildings that were in the same state. I presented the plan to the Dáil. At the time, the costings that we worked out meant that it would cost approximately €14 billion to bring all of the residential housing stock up to an average BER of C1. At the time, according to the Institute of International and European Affairs, IIEA, €10,000 per home would have saved the average household approximately €1,496 per year, and it would have helped Ireland reach its 20% energy-efficient target by 2020. It was an incredible plan that was very detailed. We presented it to the Fine Gael Government at the time, which said, “Absolutely not.”

This Government launched a plan a few months ago. If one extrapolates the figures from the Government’s plan to do the same number of houses, it would cost approximately €24 billion. That is unlikely because of the massive spike in inflation that is happening at the moment. However, even on the Government’s figures, it would cost €10 billion more than had the plan that I produced in 2012 been put into place.

One of the reasons I came up with the retrofitting plan was that there was a massive flow of construction workers emigrating from the State. Many of them just could not find work here. I believed that if we involved them in a significant retrofit scheme, we would be able to achieve energy efficiency, save money for families and keep workers in Ireland. Unfortunately, again, Fine Gael, not caring much about our workers, sent tens of thousands of those construction workers away to other countries to start new lives. As a result, many of the construction workers we need now to deal with the housing crisis are simply not there. It was a massive mistake and a lack of foresight on the Government’s behalf in three separate, objective areas.

Common sense dictates that the barrel of oil that is cheapest at the moment is the barrel of oil that you do not burn. Most families understand that saving energy is probably the most important objective we have. It is a higher priority even than the generation of sustainable electricity and, therefore, it is frustrating to see how little progress has been achieved so far. I am not laying all the blame on the Green Party, because the Green Party is two years in this particular Government and I understand it takes time. However, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have dressed themselves up in greenwashing over the past ten years but delivered absolutely zero in terms of retrofitting. The figures are incredibly low. Over the past two years, the figures have decreased in certain areas. Indeed, the figures for 2020 were 25% below target and last year’s were also extremely low. Projects literally stopping and stalling is frustrating to see.

The Irish Examinerdid a wonderful report a couple of weeks ago. The Minister of State must have looked at it and perhaps blushed when he read it. It showed that thousands of public buildings are scoring as low as F and G for energy efficiency. They say charity starts at home, but certainly policy should start with the Government first and foremost. Yet, the Government is not doing its job in terms of retrofitting its own buildings. It is an absolute bloody disgrace that there are thousands of State buildings in this country that have F and G ratings, which are nearly impossible to heat and cost massive money to run. It is not by accident as well. We have senior public servants in this country who are happy to spend money without accountability. Why? Because it is not their money. The best type of money is other people’s money, in fairness, if one is going to spend money. That is one of the problems. This type of inefficiency would not be acceptable in people’s homes or businesses as well.

I will give another example. There are public buildings in my constituency, for example, a Department of Justice building, that is lit up every night like Las Vegas. It is incredible. It is lit up massively for no practical purpose – just for aesthetics. It is still happening. When one sees that level of inefficiency in State buildings and Ministers calling for lights to be turned off at night-time and for staff to be concentrated on one floor, jaws drop across the country. Most people cannot believe it has not happened already. Most people cannot believe we have attacked the earnings and incomes of farmers before we have even decided to turn off the lights in public buildings at night-time.

I urge the Government to get real on retrofitting and saving energy and make sure that we make buildings warmer and cost less to heat.

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