Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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35. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which he plans to meet the objective of 45,000 houses retrofitted in 2021 as outlined in the National Development Plan 2018-2020; the number of those 45,000 that will be classified as deep retrofits; and the plans or schemes he is putting in place to achieve this deep retrofitting. [23965/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The National Development Plan (NDP) 2018 -2027 recognises that improving the energy efficiency of the built environment is a central plank of Ireland’s action on climate change. Energy efficiency will also realise benefits for air quality, health, social inclusion, business competitiveness and better public services, all of which will make a real and positive impact on people’s lives. Exchequer investment of €4 billion, along with taxation and regulatory measures, are provided for under the NDP. This will be necessary to drive the step change in energy performance in the residential sector. The ambition is to increase grant supported energy efficient renovations from 30,000 homes per annum to circa 45,000 from 2021, while driving the demand for a higher energy performance standard.Ireland’s White Paper on Energy Policy, Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future 2015-2030,National Mitigation Plan (NMP) and Long Term Renovation Strategy (LTRS) all recognise the fact that extensive renovation of our building stock will need to take place in order to meet both national and international targets for energy savings and emissions reduction by 2050. A number of actions which are outlined in the NMP and LTRS are already underway to achieve these levels of retrofit and promote deep retrofit of buildings across all building types and tenure. Those actions which relate specifically to homes are outlined below.

- The Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme is investigating how to create a scalable offering for the deep retrofit of Ireland’s housing stock to an A3 Building Energy Rating (BER), while building consumer demand and contractor capacity for deep retrofit. Under the scheme Government is funding up to 50% of the total capital and project management costs for homes that achieve an A3 Building Energy Rating post retrofit. This will inform a model that can make deep retrofit available to individual homeowners on a larger scale post 2020, and critically will help Ireland move away from fossil fuels to clean renewable heating systems, such as solar and heat pumps.

- The Better Energy Homes Scheme provides grant aid to homeowners who wish to improve the energy performance of their home. Fixed grants are provided towards the cost of a range of measures such as insulation, heating controls and solar thermal technology. I recently expanded this scheme to support the transition away from fossil fuels, and achieve greater energy savings and emissions reductions, by providing a grant for heat pumps and increasing the funding for external insulation.

- The Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty. I recently announced the expansion of the scheme to include internal and external wall insulation in order to increase the number of people that can receive upgrades and increase the energy savings and emissions reductions the scheme can achieve by enabling fuel switching.

- The Better Energy Communities scheme allows groups of buildings to apply for funding to improve their energy efficiency. This scheme has resulted in innovative approaches to renovation being developed, while also contributing to the overall reduction of energy usage and emissions from our building stock.

- The Warmth and Wellbeing Pilot Scheme, funded by my Department, is a joint policy initiative with the Department of Health, and is operated by SEAI and the HSE. It will measure the health and wellbeing impacts associated with improved energy efficiency. Increasing awareness of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency is critical to encourage people to invest in and make their contribution to action on climate change.