Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of home energy upgrades completed to date this year in each county; the way in which this compared with the same periods of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60298/25]

Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Everywhere I go these days I see houses getting energy upgrades. They will ensure that our homes will be easier and cheaper to heat and keep warm, which is very welcome. Might the Minister have the number of homes that have completed energy upgrades this year and how that compares with previous years?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta for his question. My Department funds a number of grant schemes administered by the SEAI for solar PV and heat pump installation as part of the national retrofit plan. To the end of September 2025, over 41,500 home energy upgrades had been completed with SEAI grant support. That compares with 38,000 in the same period in 2024, 34,000 in 2023, 16,062 in 2022, 9,938 in 2021 and 12,573 in 2020. That represents 10% growth on last year and 22% on 2023, showing strong momentum.

I acknowledge that the approval and completion timelines remain a challenge. We are particularly focused on deep retrofits and the warmer homes scheme. Average wait times, as acknowledged earlier in the House, remain high because the works are complex and demand is strong. We will continue to invest in skilled workers, more contractors and streamlined processes. We are also taking action including simplification of the application process. We are expanding the one-stop shop, which now comprises over 26 contractors, the home energy improvement loan, with rates of 2.99%, and building capacity, which must grow to meet current demand.

Budget 2026 also provided €558 million, an 89% increase, that will be supplemented with ERDF funding. On the specific data in regard to ramping up delivery, we hope by 2030 that targets of over 500,000 B2 retrofits and over 400,000 heat pumps will be delivered.

Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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One of the issues I have heard from people who have looked to upgrade their traditional built houses, many of which are in our towns and villages as the Minister of State is well aware, is the potential need to engage conservation professionals, given the construction methods. This puts a far greater cost burden on the owner. I am led to believe there is a significant shortage in such professionals, both technical and practical. This makes for huge delay in delivering the energy upgrades and therefore they are far less attractive. For example, the cost of conservation technical expertise to ensure the internal and external walls of these properties are treated properly could erode a grant available of up to 60%. Does the Minister of State have a breakdown of the number of traditional properties that have taken on these energy upgrades? Will the Minister of State consider putting some extra funding in place for people who own these properties to engage conservation professionals?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question and for outlining the challenges faced by some homeowners. We are looking at continuing policy development in regard to the national retrofit plan. In recent years, significant changes have been introduced as part of the retrofitting scheme. One part of that was a new pilot to support the retrofitting of traditional built homes. I will work with the Deputy on the specific instance he has raised. We have also introduced two pilots aimed at informing approaches to increase the number of heat pumps installed. We know as demand increases a lot of the traditional built homes that may have conservation challenges will become a lot more expensive to retrofit. We are working at streamlining the processes. If there are examples that the Deputy wants to share with us, we certainly will work with SEAI and try to build them into a broader programme that meets the needs of everyone throughout the country.

Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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There is an upgrade scheme through the SEAI at the minute called the traditional home pilot scheme. There is a low uptake, and this is directly related to the costs associated with conservation technical expertise and the lack of conservation professionals. Will the Minister of State provide details as to the number of expressions of interest there have been through the one-stop shops and the number of those who have followed through with the applications? If we are serious about upgrading many of the older properties in the country - and let us be honest there are lots of them - many of them use turf and coal for heating and have thermal inefficiencies, we will have to acknowledge the reality around the added costs associated with treating them properly.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Over 41,500 upgrades have been completed so far this year. We have been building momentum. I do not have the numbers on hand for traditional built housing, but I certainly can get that back to the Deputy. As I said earlier, we need more skills and contractors and better supply chain resilience. That is why we are very much focused on more SEAI staff for the warmer homes scheme, and indeed, more one-stop shop operators. It is at 26 already. To the Deputy's point, it needs to be ensured that all homes are included. To get that specific skill set and expertise is something we can go to back to SEAI on and revert to the Deputy on. We will get the figures to the Deputy around warmer home retrofits for traditional homes.