Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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201. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his engagement with the European Commission to identify supports for the low-cost retrofit loan scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57437/21]

Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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202. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the low-cost retrofit loan scheme for residential retrofitting will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57438/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 201 and 202 together.

The Climate Action Plan and National Retrofit Plan have set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 or carbon equivalent and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings by the end of 2030. These targets represent a very significant increase in both the volume and depth of retrofit activity in Ireland.

My Department is engaging with the Department of Finance and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland in relation to the development of a residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme. This project has been selected for inclusion in Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and will be co-funded by the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and Exchequer funding. Discussions with the European Investment Bank about their participation in the scheme are also underway. The target for introduction of the scheme is mid-2022.

The loan guarantee will provide risk protection to retail credit institutions participating in the scheme. This will enable credit institutions to offer loans with reduced interest rates and make comprehensive home energy efficiency upgrades more affordable to consumers. As a result, households will be able to enjoy more comfortable and healthier homes with a lower carbon footprint.

The loan guarantee is expected to help increase the volume of retrofit activity within the State and improve the recovery and resilience of the supply chain within the retrofit sector. The scheme will also signal to the banking sector new viable business opportunities associated with the transition to a low carbon economy.