Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. He mentioned the delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which are completely understandable. I accept his Department will engage with Kildare County Council on the matter. The Minister of State mentioned the 750 local authority homes in the midlands across the eight counties included in the programme. If a third of participants have dropped out, as we have seen in the area of Rathangan, then only 500 local authority homes will be part of the programme. The Minister of State noted that in Kildare, 91 local authority homes are being processed for retrofitting. With the dropouts, what figure is reduced to 60. That is not good for a pilot project.

The Minister of State has spoken of trying to achieve a B2 BER. That is not going to happen if windows and doors are not replaced. I take on board the Minister of State's point that the Department is fully committed to replacing doors and windows. There is an anomaly, because Kildare County Council is asserting the Department has capped the funding and it will not be able to replace doors and windows. However, the Minister of State has stated today that according to the Department, the replacement of doors and windows is very necessary.

Will the Minister of State come back to me after he was engaged with Kildare County Council and update me on the results of that engagement? It is vitally important, not just for this project but for all of the other projects, that there is an effective and efficient roll-out. I hope we see also a roll-out of grants for retrofitting in respect of private homes.