Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I am here to answer on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The climate action plan, as outlined by the Senator, and the national retrofit plan set ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a building energy rating of B2 or cost optimal and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of 2030. To promote and incentivise the achievement of these targets, the Government has put in place a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes with lower energy bills.

Last year, demand across the SEAI schemes was exceptionally high. Indicative figures from the SEAI show that nearly 48,000 home energy upgrades were supported last year. This represents a 76% increase in outputs year on year. Of this amount, 17,599 homes achieved a B2 building energy rating. This represents a 107% increase in B2 upgrades that were supported in 2022. Under the better energy warmer home scheme, 5,897 free upgrades for energy poor homes were delivered. This represents a 33% increase in free upgrades provided versus 2022. Overall, over 67,000 applications for grant supports were received by the SEAI, which equated to a 34% increase on 2022 levels. This indicates a strong pipeline of works for this year.A record capital budget of €437.2 million for SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including the solar PV scheme, has been allocated for 2024. This allocation will mean that the progress made last year under the national retrofit plan will be further ramped up this year.

On the Senator's specific query, houses and apartments owned by homeowners, non-corporate landlords and approved housing bodies are eligible for grant support under the various residential and community energy upgrade schemes in line with the relevant scheme guidelines. The national home energy upgrade scheme is designed to support homeowners who want to undertake a comprehensive home energy upgrade through registered one-stop shops. While apartments in aggregated projects can be supported, this scheme is currently more focused on upgrading individual apartments and houses. However, entire apartment buildings can be supported under the SEAI community energy grant scheme. In recent years, the SEAI has supported a number of such projects, including in respect of energy-poor and non-energy-poor households in apartment buildings.

The Department and the SEAI recognise that apartment buildings have additional and complex issues that need to be addressed when considering whole-building retrofit upgrades. These include technical issues like heat pump systems, design solutions and mixed-ownership issues, which can often be very challenging. For that reason, the Department is working with the SEAI to identify and address any of the barriers that currently exist. In parallel, officials from the Department and their counterparts from the SEAI and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are collaborating with the Housing Agency on an EU-supported research project on this matter. The key objective of the project is to establish models and frameworks to advance methods of whole-of-building retrofits of apartment buildings in Ireland. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

It is important to note that the SEAI is happy to engage with apartment block owner management companies in respect of proposals for energy efficiency upgrade projects. I encourage any such companies to make contact with the SEAI.