Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this important matter. It has been the Government's mantra that the carbon tax it is collecting is going into deep retrofitting. As the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, who is present, has been told here all evening, there is a wait of up to two years. What is happening to the money the Government is collecting from hard-beaten motorists, whether they are lorry drivers or tractor drivers or whoever? They are playing carbon tax at an exorbitant rate and the Government is going to charge them more in the budget. Where is the money going?

Up to 300 people were on the waiting list in County Kerry at the end of February. That number has doubled since then. As for Kerry County Council, we do not know why the voids are not being brought back into use. We are kind of being told that it is because the voids must all be deep retrofitted, at a cost of up to €60,000 or €70,000, but the Government is not providing the money to the local authority to bring back the voids. There are 150 of them at present. I am asking the Minister to direct the money the local authority needs to retrofit the houses. There are 30 such houses vacant in Killarney while people all around are crying to get housed. The Government is talking about putting heat pumps into old houses. Some of the houses are not fit for that.

In the case of grant aid for the elderly, in Kerry a person will only get €3,200 to repair a roof. That includes the VAT, so it is only about €2,192 that the person gets. I am asking the Minister to increase that money. If there is rain pouring down, what good is heating the house? We have to start with the roof and keep the water out.

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