Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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27. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the target number of attic and cavity wall insulation completions in 2022, 2023 and 2024. [50684/22]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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28. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated number of homes that require attic and cavity wall insulation upgrades. [50685/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 28 together.27 and 28  together,The Climate Action Plan set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector from 7 Mt CO2 eq. in 2018 to between 3.5-4.5 Mt CO2 eq. in 2030.

Recognising that the achievement of this target will require a step-change in the pace and scale of delivery Ireland’s residential retrofit programme, earlier this year the Government approved a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades, for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills.

One of the key measures included a special enhanced grant rate, equivalent to up to 80% of the typical cost, for attic and cavity wall insulation for all households, to urgently reduce energy use as part of the Government’s response to very high energy prices. 

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) have confirmed that, to date this year, approximately 3,400 homes have benefitted from roof/attic insulation with approximately 2,800 homes benefitting from cavity wall insulation directly through the Better Energy Homes grant schemes.  Additional homes have benefitted from these attic and cavity wall measures through other schemes also but SEAI do not have those numbers immediately available. The level of activity in this area will rise in Q4 and along with a range of other measures and schemes will contribute to SEAI working to reach its overall target of 27,000 home energy upgrades for the year. 

Budget 2023 included an exchequer capital funding allocation of €337.3 million for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including Solar and Microgen. €291 million of the exchequer allocation is being provided from carbon tax revenue. The 2023 allocation compares to €244.2 million in funding in 2022 (allocation following the Supplementary Estimate in July) and equates to an increase of €93 million.This overall allocation is the highest ever and means that the Warmer Homes Scheme, National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, Better Energy Homes, Community Energy Grant Scheme and the Solar PV Scheme and Microgen will each have record budget allocations for 2023 to support homes, businesses, and community organisations including approved housing bodies, helping to protect them against energy cost increases into the future, while also reducing our emissions.This investment will deliver over 37,000 home energy upgrades including over 13,800 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 and 6,000 free upgrades under the SEAI energy poverty scheme.

Regarding the estimated number of homes that require attic and cavity wall insulation upgrades, the SEAI estimate that there could be of the order of 500,000 homes that have attic insulation with a thickness of less than 120mm (4-5 inches) of mineral wool, while approximately 162,000 homes have cavity wall construction that could benefit from insulation, of which approximately 80,000 were constructed pre-1980 that could particularly benefit from cavity wall insulation.