Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The one-stop shops are now up to speed. We have delivered double the number of retrofits in this period of the year compared to the same period last year. We need to do that. The retrofit programme for the decade involves an exponential increase in the number of retrofits being delivered until we reach 500,000 homes retrofitted by 2030. We cannot do that without having a large programme of skill development at the same time. We expect to need 30,000 trained people to be able to deliver those retrofits every year. The Minister for higher education, Deputy Harris, has been delivering on what we asked him to do. We initially said 3,000 and he has been delivering more than 3,000 people skilled in retrofits. We have a clear programme and a clear objective of 500,000 people in warm cosy homes by 2030. Most of the money being spent is being spent on schemes to alleviate energy poverty so the money is targeted towards those people who need it most.

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