Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Energy Performance in Buildings Directive requires all Member States of the European Union to develop a Long-Term Renovation Strategy for a highly energy-efficient and decarbonised building stock.

Ireland’s Long-Term Renovation Strategy was developed based on the polices, measures and actions set out in the Climate Action Plan (published in 2019) and the National Energy and Climate Plan (published in 2020). It was submitted to the  European Commission in October 2020. There is a range of steps set out in the Long-Term Renovation Strategy that are being taken to progress the retrofit of the building stock. I would highlight, in particular, the significant increase in resourcing provided to SEAI and the increased budget for support schemes across the residential, commercial and public sectors. 

The Long-Term Renovation Strategy does not include all the policies and measures for the sector that will be necessary to meet the commitments set out in the Programme for Government to an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions in the period to 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. The additional policies and measures will be considered as part of the next Climate Action Plan which is currently under development.

A public consultation on the Long-Term Renovation Strategy was held from October to December 2020. A total of 22 submissions were received which are helping to inform the development of the next Climate Action Plan and future revisions of the Long-Term Renovation Strategy.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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76. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the availability of SEAI grants for private home owners to retrofit and insulate their homes; if these schemes will be expanded to cater for more persons; the current waiting time for a person that may wish to avail of same; if funding will be increased for these schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13087/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department funds a number of SEAI grant schemes to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. Partial grants are available for individuals who can afford to contribute to the cost of upgrades as well as free energy efficiency retrofits for people at risk of energy poverty. Since 2000, around 450,000 homeowners have upgraded their homes with support from these schemes, representing nearly one home in four across the country. Last year alone, although COVID-19 restrictions had a negative impact on activity, over 17,500 homes were retrofitted with SEA support.

€221.5 million in capital funding has been provided this year for SEAI residential and community retrofit schemes. This represents an additional €100 million, or an 82% increase, on the 2020 allocation and is the largest ever budget for the schemes.

Waiting times vary across schemes. Under the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme, in 2020 the average time from application to completion was approximately 18 months, which reflects the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. SEAI have advised my Department that this average waiting time should only ever be used as a general guide and waiting times may vary, based on the demand for the scheme at the time of application.

Under the Better Energy Homes programme works must be completed within an 8-month period, starting from the date of grant approval.

Aggregation based supports such as Community Energy Grant and the National Retrofit Scheme approve applications which meet the qualifying criteria on an ongoing basis within the annual budget.  Work on these schemes can commence as soon as grant approvals are given to each project with works to be completed by mid-October of this year.   

Full details on the application processes for all schemes operated by th. SEAI are available at www.seai.ie