Dáil debates
Thursday, 28 September 2023
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Environmental Schemes
10:40 am
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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70. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the plans he is putting in place to reduce the waiting time for householders under the better energy, warmer homes scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42047/23]
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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What plans are being put in place to reduce the waiting time for the warmer homes scheme to be enacted in houses? At present, the first letter applicants get is an acknowledgement confirming their reference number and stating that it will take up to 24 months before works will be carried out. I want to know what we are doing to sort out that timeline.
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The better energy, warmer homes scheme delivers a range of energy-efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households that are vulnerable to energy poverty and it is a top priority for me. The scheme is very popular. Some 20,000 applications were received over the period from January 2022 to the end of August 2023. The scheme is delivering deeper and more complex upgrades in recent years, with the average cost of upgrades increasing to €24,000 in 2023. While more significant works deliver enhanced upgrades for homeowners, they also take a longer time per home to complete. The scheme was also impacted significantly by Covid-19, which caused a backlog.
My Department has worked with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to increase output and reduce waiting times. The average waiting time from application to completion in the second quarter of 2023 was 19 months, a decrease from 26 months in 2022. The following actions were taken in order to reduce waiting times: increased SEAI staff for the scheme; increased budget allocation up to €148.5 million this year; and contractor, supply chain and inflation management and mitigation. Importantly, a new contractor panel for the scheme was established earlier this month with expanded capacity. It is intended that the panel will be in place for four years, with an estimated contract value of €700 million, which is a very strong signal of commitment to the market that this money is available from the State for investment. Additional funding of €264 million has also been secured for the scheme from the European Regional Development Fund and that will supplement the annual allocations over the period from now until 2027.
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I welcome the fact that waiting times are being reduced but to bring them from 26 months down to 19 months is not ideal. We need to go further. The Minister of State has explained that this is a great scheme. It has the money in it to deliver what is needed by people who are in fuel poverty. The problem is with the expectation that has been created by the scheme. The design of the scheme is fine. The application form itself is very simple, a three-pager. Everything is fine until they get the acknowledgement with the reference number on it, which says it can be up to 24 months. People can feel deflated and ask what it is all about. I welcome the fact that additional staff and money are being put in place. However, we need to engage with local contractors to get works done. Under the framework the Minister of State is talking about, I think we have central purchasing and all that. We have people coming from Cork up to Galway to carry out work and all this kind of thing. Is that even environmentally friendly? I would suggest that we use more local, smaller builders to carry out these works and to try to spread the workload across the country.
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I agree that we need to go further. This history of this scheme is that there was a time not that long ago when it was difficult for the SEAI to get sufficient applications and interest from people and they were advertising it. They do not have to advertise it now. People understand what retrofit is and they want it. There is no cost to this scheme. It is targeted at people in energy poverty. When there is a price of zero on something there is going to be a queue, particularly when it delivers such incredible value and changes people's quality of life. It is natural that there are more people applying for it than there is availability. However, we have massively increased work, with up to 400 homes a month being retrofitted. The volume of the scheme has increased, as has the amount of money going in. The Deputy has acknowledged that the number of staff has increased.
The Deputy has said he would like to see more local contractors. Retrofit is really suited towards local contracting, just like any form of home renovation. It is something that is better done locally. I will have a look at the procurement documents on this and see if there is any form of geographic lotting on it. I take the Deputy's point.
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I agree wholeheartedly with everything the Minister of State has said. This is not a criticism of the scheme. It is a free scheme. The number of people coming into my office inquiring about it has risen over the last six months. I accept that. If the Minister of State looks at the local contractors, that would be important. One other aspect of the scheme he might have a look at is cases where someone got some measures previously, maybe ten years ago when there was an attic insulation scheme. They are not being considered now but they may have other works that need to be carried out in their homes that were not part of a previous grant scheme. It is important we do not just dismiss these applicants by saying we cannot include them because they got a previous support. It is important that we look at that. There are people who got attic insulation previously and who still need to get more works done on their houses. They are being excluded for the simple reason that they got a previous support. That is just something to look at also.
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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From memory, I believe that at least one of these schemes was changed to allow for part works to be done and then to have work done in stages, so people would not be excluded if they had done some of the works and then got more of the works. My understanding is that these schemes are quite comprehensive. The average cost is €24,000 which is quite a deep retrofit. I think in general, people are getting everything done in one go. If the Deputy has a specific example of any of his constituents who were excluded because they had done some works previously, I would like to look at that particular situation and see if we can fix it.