Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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13. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the recently launched business energy upgrade scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21239/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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In light of recent utility price volatility, global economic uncertainty, trade wars and the threat of tariffs, it was really good to see the business energy upgrade scheme launched in November. Now that it has been under way for five months, will the Minister of State give us an update on the uptake of the scheme, how it is working and whether public bodies are utilising it?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. As she will be aware, I, as the Minister of State at the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for small business and retail, have responsibility for ensuring that emissions in the commercial built environment are reduced in line with climate action targets. Achieving these targets will mean that many owners of commercial properties will have to carry out energy upgrade works to their buildings. Such works can include installing smart meters and replacing gas and oil heating with a heat pump system. Doing so will come at a cost, though, and it is for this reason that I welcomed the introduction of the business energy upgrades scheme, which is run by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. The scheme is designed to meet some of the upfront costs of these upgrade works and provide rapid grants and options for businesses at varying grant rates. They can get up to 30% support for a range of energy upgrade measures and up to 50% support to optimise existing systems and support retrofit design costs. I am pleased that there has been a strong uptake of the scheme since it opened for applications. There are over 200 draft applications in progress and 78 offers have been made to date, to an approximate value of €1.8 million.

The scheme is funded from the climate action fund and offers up to €120,000 for a range of common building upgrade measures, including pumps, solar thermal, automatic controls, heat pumps, ventilation and wall insulation. The applications received are for all the potential measures currently offered under the scheme.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. As someone who has spent my recent years advising SMEs, it is important to remember that a lot of them do not have the capacity to be continually checking what grants are open for application and navigating difficult processes, so it is important that we have a streamlined, efficient process. Will the Minister of State tell me how long it is taking to finalise and confirm draft applications? In the Department's view, is the scheme working or is there anything we can do to improve it? What can we do to improve the uptake of the scheme? While it is great there are 200 applications, there are a lot more than 200 SMEs in this country. Are we appropriately advertising the scheme to make sure we are encouraging uptake to help support these SMEs with their energy costs at a time when they are particularly suffering with them?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A key priority for the Government within our competitiveness plan is to engage with the Department of energy, climate and environment to ensure we can drive down the cost of energy, not just for residential consumers, but for businesses to ensure they remain viable.

It is probably one of the most important areas we can focus on and currently are focused on. We are providing grants to small businesses around emissions and ensuring that they have access to grants to support their transition to more carbon-efficient and green initiatives.

This is an important energy grant scheme. The 200 applications demonstrate there is a confidence and commitment from businesses to engage in this process. We have also previously seen many businesses invest in new refrigeration units, and I know that was supported through our Department. We will continue on that trajectory. A timeline regarding the applications is with the SEAI, which administers the scheme. I can get that to the Deputy.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. As he said, it is important that we support our SMEs with their energy costs, and it is great that we have this scheme. It is important that we have a periodic review of the uptake of the scheme to make sure it was working. If the uptake is not increasing substantially, we need to look at how we are advertising that scheme and encouraging SMEs to take it up, as well as making sure that it is quick and efficient and that the timeline to approve the grant applications is actually appropriate.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is working with the SEAI to try to streamline the grant applications, not just for businesses, but for homes under the warmer homes scheme. Where businesses or customers successfully make an application to get onto the scheme, the scheme takes into consideration the likelihood of trying to procure a contractor. That extends out the timeline so, in effect, the timeline could be 18 months before an actual contractor is available to do it. However, I think the SEAI should measure when the actual grant is processed and approved, and then it is up to the business itself to find out when the works commence. It is a vital support, and there is a commitment to enhance this scheme into the future, with approximately €1.8 million already committed. We want to go even further in future to support business.