Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Deputy has raised this today because while I have been able to read into the record details of a reduction in waiting times from 26 months to 18 months, which is fine, that is still a significant length of time for anyone to be waiting. The waiting time has reduced for E, F and G homes, so there is a prioritisation of the worst affected. I will be engaging with the SEAI to see if there is an opportunity to consider age cohorts as well, to see if we can prioritise our senior citizens living in energy poverty.

Applicants can contact the SEAI at any time to get further information on the status of their application and I will supply the contact details to the Deputy. Undoubtedly, significant work is required to clear what is effectively a backlog. These are more complex cases and we understand that. There is a certain processing time for applications and while I am glad to see that 26 months has been reduced to 18 months, we are still talking about a more than two-year wait reducing to a year and a half. We need to do better than that.

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