Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I listened carefully to what Senator O'Donovan said and I absolutely take on board the point he raised concerning the limited number of people who can provide BER certificates. This can cause a logjam. I will take this point back to the Minister and ask if additional people can be added to that list to ensure people's applications can be dealt with earlier. I think this is a fair point and that I am right when I say the situation the Senator spoke about applies right across the country and not just in his area. The main principles of these schemes are fairness, universality, that all types of houses are covered and that the issue of the consumer is also taken into account in this regard too.As regards work to reduce the waiting time, the SEAI has allocated additional staff for the warmer homes scheme and a significantly increased budget allocation has been given for this year. The SEAI works to increase contractor output through active contract engagement and management.

On the issue raised by the Senator, which I have encountered personally, where workers arrive almost unexpectedly and the householder is told they are ready to do it, if they cannot start work immediately, the householder will be put to the bottom of the list. That is bad customer relations and needs to be dealt with.