Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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151. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the supports that are available to persons building new homes in order to encourage non-carbon heating systems; if grants offered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to convert existing homes by installing PV panels are also available to new house builds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28799/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The European Union (Energy Performance Of Buildings) Regulations 2019 set higher building energy performance standards for dwellings, in accordance with the Nearly Zero Energy Building requirements (NZEB) contained in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

These Regulations apply to works in connection with the design and construction of a new dwelling, where the relevant works commence or take place, as the case may be, on or after 1 November 2019 except where:

- an application is made on or before 31 October 2019 for planning permission or approval pursuant to the Planning and Development Act 2000 and where substantial work has been completed by 31 October 2020; or

- a notice pursuant to the provisions of Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 has been published on or before 31 October 2019 and where substantial work has been completed by 31 October 2020.

These regulations will continue to support the phase out of fossil fuel boilers in new dwellings by advancing the energy and carbon dioxide emissions performance requirements of new dwellings to Nearly Zero Energy Buildings standards and by requiring that the nearly zero amount of energy required in new buildings is covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources. As this is a mandatory requirement of the building regulations, no grants are available.

Many of the techniques required to achieve NZEB, such as improved fabric and the mandatory requirement for renewables, have been introduced on a gradual basis into Part L of the Building Regulations since 2007.

These incremental improvements have effectively eased the transition and minimized the additional effort required to achieve the NZEB performance for dwellings.

The NZEB requirements make it more attractive for builders and homeowners to further incorporate renewable technologies and move away from traditional fossil fuels.

The Better Energy Homes Scheme for existing dwellings is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) under the remit of the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications to help homeowners and landlords reduce their energy costs and emissions by providing grants towards insulation, heating control, solar thermal and photovoltaic improvements. Further details on grant payments and qualifying works are available from the SEAI website atwww.seai.ie