Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said this has not been done before. In fact, other countries have given zero-interest loans. Brussels, for example, gives zero-interest loans for retrofitting.

That would have actually been a much better solution because it means that retrofitting is going to be something that every household could look at - that there is not that upfront cost to them. That is just a different argument.

I have a quick question in relation to the loan scheme. Is the Minister looking to extend it beyond residential, to community electricity generation projects? My understanding is that with these projects, a 5 MW solar farm could cost between €5 million and €6 million, which is a considerable outlay for community groups to run. It would appear that financial barriers are one of the main reasons why these community solar farms are not up and running. Would the Minister consider expanding this scheme so that they could also avail of these low-interest loans?

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