Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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158. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the pilot scheme to test key elements of the national retrofitting plan; the expected composition of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12734/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next 10 years. SEAI grant schemes will be a central element of the Government's approach to achieving our national retrofit targets.

A total of €221.5 million in capital funding has been provided for SEAI residential and community retrofit schemes this year. This represents an additional €100 million, or an 82% increase, on the 2020 allocation and is the largest ever budget for the schemes.  Of this amount, €109 million is allocated to provide free upgrades for lower income households with the balance of €112.5 million to be spent on expanding existing SEAI grant schemes and introducing new initiatives.

One such initiative is the National Home Retrofit Scheme (One Stop Shop Development Call). This new support scheme is designed to encourage the development of retrofit One-Stop-Shops, to support home retrofit on a larger scale, and support the growth of the retrofitting industry.  The scheme facilitates home upgrades for private households, registered Housing Associations and Local Authorities who wish to participate in delivering home energy efficiency upgrades.More details of this scheme, which has been well received by the market, are available on the SEAI website at

My Department is also currently working with SEAI to develop other initiatives including a further scheme that will facilitate the retrofitting of homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2, at scale and managed by one stop shops.  It is intended to launch the scheme in quarter 3 of this year.