Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply. There are elements that I very much welcome, particularly the area-based approach. I know CEG was the pilot - I think it was in Cork. It may not be funded under that scheme in Fingal. I want to raise the change that was made in June relating to the guidelines from the CEG for real estate investment funds and commercial landlords to avail of the SEAI's retrofitting grant. I met representatives of the SEAI to discuss this and they confirmed that the purpose of this, as the Minister outlined, was to encourage real estate investment funds and commercial landlords to avail of the grants to retrofit rented properties. Approximately €81.6 million has already been drawn down. There is a risk that this will lead to renovictions and increasing rents for people. How will this be managed? We need to ensure that these funds are also available for individual properties with tenants in them and just not just hoovered up by real estate investment trust and funds.

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