Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am raising this matter because too many people are falling through the cracks apparent in the national retrofit scheme. In short, it is not working for the people who need it the most and therein lies the problem. I and many colleagues in the House see the homes that need to be made warmer and more energy efficient are being refused the assistance needed because of the nature of the house, the manner in which it was built or certain features that make it ineligible. Ability to pay is another aspect of this but I will leave that until later on.

This issue relates to stone-built structures. There are many such homes, houses and cottages throughout rural Ireland. They were generally built prior to the 1950s and many long before then. They are not that uncommon, yet judging by the response these households have had to their inquiries about retrofits, one would think they were a rare occurrence that never entered the minds of those who developed the scheme. They are generally so old because they were built to last. They were also built to adapt to the heating methods of the time, that is, open fire and back boiler heating. Such homes are usually lived in by elderly people, some parents or grandparents, who have stayed in the family home all their lives. They have been refused the help they need. A householder in my constituency was refused on the basis the works that can be carried out would not get their building up to the regulation required, so they are left at that. They are essentially excluded.

These homes can have very thick walls. I grant that presents its own set of challenges but why was this not planned for when rolling out the scheme? When I raised this via a parliamentary question, I was told these structures were characterised as "traditionally built" buildings and that due to the nature of the mortar used, and issues of vapour trapping and so on, they are more complicated to insulate. That is fair enough but why was this not taken into account when the scheme was being prepared?

If these people are to wait until the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage prepares a new technical guidance document, which is what I have been told, then they are to be put at the back of a very long queue. The scheme has not been well-prepared. It is discriminating against those with meagre means, and sidelines those who do not have the means for a full refit. That is the truth of it. These households typically heat their homes with turf and timber and are now being told that they cannot do that. The Government devised a scheme suited to those with the greatest means and not those in greatest need. Homeowners such as those I mentioned, as well as people living in energy poverty and in greatest need of help, are being left behind by the scheme. What is the Government doing to ensure these households will be attended to when the report is finished and that they will not be left at the back of the queue?

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