Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line is older people are living in older houses in the cold and spending a lot of money on heating their homes. Currently, the SEAI scheme looks like it suits everybody, but when older people living in older houses applied, the builders listed on that website - the only ones people can contact - came down and said they could do anything. While the Minister of State said, "The specific measures that can be funded include draught-proofing of openings, attic insulation, repair and upgrading of historic shutters, installation of secondary glazing and insulation of suspended timber floors", none of the companies offer those services. Something is wrong. Either the list of people willing to do the work needs to be broadened out or the companies saying "No" to people need to be told that is not acceptable. At the moment, I am aware of lots of people who were told there is no help for them. I do not know what to say to those people because this contradicts it. I do not know what, "In the coming months" means. The Minister of State said, "Looking forward, the SEAI and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications are examining options to pilot supports ...". We do not need to pilot supports. I have done up an old cottage and so have many others for many years. I can take the Minister of State to my house from 30 years ago. We do not need pilot programmes. The money needs to get to the people in these cold, old houses.