Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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13. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason for the delay in implementing the commitment contained in the programme for Government that introduced a minimum BER for the private rental sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53530/25]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Somewhere between 240,000 and 260,000 rental homes in Ireland fall below the B standard for BER. Tenants renting those homes are hit with the double blow of rents that are too high and energy bills that are artificially high because the places they are renting are not energy-efficient. In Housing for All, there was a commitment to set out a roadmap on how these homes could be upgraded. Where is that roadmap?

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. A commitment was included under Housing for All to develop a roadmap to implement minimum building energy rating, BER, standards where feasible for the private rental sector. This work supports the objectives set down in the Government's climate action plan. My Department is committed to improving energy efficiency in the rental market and our work in this area is being informed by researched commissioned from the ESRI.

The ESRI research paper, published earlier this year, explores the investment requirements for energy efficiency upgrades in the private rental sector. The ESRI research is a valuable contribution to our understanding of future investment requirements to ensure the appropriate energy efficiency upgrades in the private rental sector, and it will help in the development of policy and actions in this area.

As part of Ireland's residential retrofit programme, the Government launched a new package of supports targeting homes that were built and occupied pre-2011. These supports have been made available to non-corporate landlords and approved housing bodies to improve the efficiency of their rental properties. A home energy upgrade loan scheme, launched in 2024, enables homeowners, including non-corporate landlords, to borrow between €5,000 and €75,000 at significantly lower interest rates to complete a home energy upgrade.

A tax incentive is now in place to encourage small-scale landlords to undertake retrofitting works while the tenant remains in situ. Budget 2026 included the announcement that the income tax deduction for small landlords who retrofit their properties will be extended for a further three years. The appropriate balance has to be struck between improving the energy efficiency of our rental stock any potential impact that any intervention may have on the private rental market, particularly around availability of accommodation. This is an area that is being kept under active review.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Hundreds of thousands of renters in Ireland face that double blow of rents that are too high and energy bills that are artificially high because they live in homes that are not energy-efficient.

Their homes are cold, draughty and mouldy, which is a direct cause of energy poverty. It is also a contributing factor to our carbon emissions from the housing sector. The Minister of State has set out some research done by the ESRI. It is valuable research. It shows us the scale of the challenge. Some 240,000 to 260,000 homes will need to be retrofitted. The overall cost to retrofit them all will be between €7 billion and €8 billion. The Minister of State listed three measures, which is great, but at what point will we see a systematic approach to dealing with a challenge that is huge in its scale? We need a plan. Is the Minister of State still going to bring forward a roadmap? Can he give us a date for when that roadmap will be published?

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I cannot give the Deputy a date for that. The matter is being kept under active review. We have obviously enhanced the measures to try to improve the BERs relating to our rental stock. The Deputy is right to say that the ESRI has completed valuable work on this matter. It has stated that four in five rented dwellings currently have BERs below B and the estimated cost of upgrading the housing stock in the rental market is between €7 billion and €8 billion in 2023 prices. It is a significant cost. In making any policy decisions in this area, we have to strike a balance between ensuring that we have an adequate number of rental properties and trying to improve the energy rating of those properties.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As a Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Cummins needs to put as much of his concern towards renters who are stuck in these cold, draughty homes as he is towards landlords. A challenge of this scale will only be addressed if a plan is actually in place. I am concerned that the Minister of State does not seem to have any sort of date or timeline for the delivery. I am also concerned about his use of the term "under active review". Will he clarify that the Department at least still plans to bring forward a roadmap on retrofitting? Maybe the Minister of State cannot give me a date today, but is he still going to undertake this roadmap? Having that roadmap would allow the Government to plan the scale of investment that is necessary. This will take a lot of money. The previous Government put aside large amounts of money in the climate fund to deal with climate measures - this sort of measure - but, of course, the Government has now raided that fund and it is gone. By not having a plan in place, the Minister of State lost the opportunity to bid to fund this scale of retrofitting.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will know, a significant scheme, namely the home energy upgrade loan scheme, is in place. It was launched last year and is used to provide loans of between €5,000 and €75,000 at levels significantly below prevailing interest rates in order to try to address the scale of the challenge that has been identified in the ESRI report. As stated, four in five rental properties are below a B rating. We are keeping this under review. I do not have a date for the Deputy for this. I stress again that we have to strike a balance between ensuring that we have an adequate supply of rental properties in the market and trying to increase the energy efficiency of those rental properties to ensure that renters have an adequate and warm home to live in.