Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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192. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is aware of the current waiting times for applications to SEAI (details supplied); his plans to shorten the waiting time for applicants to SEAI for these urgent environmental works; the resources he will provide to SEAI to expedite these works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13314/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government supports households most at risk of energy poverty to improve the energy performance of their homes through schemes administered by the SEAI. In 2022 this included the Warmer Homes scheme and the Warmth and Well-being pilot scheme.

Delivering these free energy upgrades to low-income households and reducing waiting times is a key priority for Government. There are currently over 12,000 homes on the Warmer Homes Scheme work programme. Demand for these upgrades is very high with over 9,900 applications received in 2022 and over 2,000 additional applications received in the first two months of 2023. For homes completed in 2022, the average time from application to completion was 26 months. This was an improvement of 1 month on the average waiting time for homes completed in 2021. The monthly target of an average of 400 completions for the scheme has been met since June 2022.

Data provided by SEAI indicates that last year:

- A record €98 million was spent on these schemes;

- This delivered 4,438 free energy upgrades - an increase of 85% on 2021;

- The average value of the upgrades provided in the second half of 2022 was almost €22,000. This compares to an average spend of €3,450 in 2017 and gives a clear indication of the scale of work now being carried out in these homes;

A range of steps have been taken to enhance the capacity of the scheme and deliver increased numbers of upgrades. This includes additional staff in SEAI working on the scheme as well as measures to deal with ongoing supply chain and inflationary pressures. Additional funding of €248 million for the scheme has also been secured for the period to 2027 from the European Regional Development Fund.

Looking to this year, an unprecedented budget of €148.5 million has been allocated to the scheme which will deliver 6,000 additional home upgrades.

My Department is working with the SEAI to identify approaches that can further increase the number of energy upgrades delivered to low income households. This will include a new contractor panel for the scheme to be established later this year. It is intended that the panel will be in place for 4 years, with an estimated contract budget of €700 million for that period.