Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The people who need it the most are getting it. That social housing, which Deputy O'Rourke did not mention in his statistics, is absolutely a key part of what we need to do as well. Those eligible for the warmer homes scheme get a 100% grant and in the first quarter of this year, 1,000 homes were significantly improved. That is not a small or insignificant development. The criticism here a year ago was that there was a backlog under the warmer homes scheme and that we were not closing out that backlog. The story being told now is of us actually delivering on our commitment to address that backlog, to go into the homes of those looking for improvements. It is real now and it is happening at scale. We have the ability to further ramp that up and to show that we can actually deliver. We now have the supply chain and the contractors in place. That was part of the problem a year ago. We did not know if we would be able to scale up, if we would have the industry here to deliver what is needed. What we are seeing now is that it is starting to happen at scale and at speed.

I agree that we need to get every home retrofitted and that we need to prioritise social housing and low-income households. Deputy O'Rourke also ignored another measure, the 80% grant for cavity and attic insulation. The numbers availing of that have taken off dramatically. While that will not get homes to a B2 rating, which is the target, I would prefer to have that work done with an 80% grant, as well as the 100% grant under the warmer homes scheme for those who cannot afford it. The economics of that works because those houses with better attic and wall insulation have lower fuel bills, thanks to us delivering on our commitments.

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