Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on the roll-out of loan schemes for deep retrofitting; and if the backlog previously reported has been cleared. [9852/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is working with the Department of Finance, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund to develop a residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme. The scheme is part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and will be co-funded by the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and Exchequer funding. It will also be backed by a counter guarantee provided by the EIB Group.

The loan guarantee will provide risk protection to retail credit institutions participating in the scheme and will enable credit institutions to offer loans with reduced interest rates to private homeowners and non-corporate landlords making comprehensive home energy efficiency upgrades more affordable to consumers. Further, this will signal to the banking sector, new sustainable business opportunities associated with retrofit and the transition to a low carbon economy as well as increasing the volume of retrofit activity within the State. It is anticipated that the Scheme will provide a lending portfolio of up to €500 million.

Significant progress has been made to date, with two open calls for expressions of interest to participate in the scheme completed, and a number of banks and credit unions submitting formal expressions of interest. The development of this innovative scheme is a complex process involving several stakeholders. Intensive engagement to develop the scheme is ongoing, with all stakeholders committed to finalising the details and it is expected that the loan guarantee will be in place in the coming months.