Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

180. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has any plans to address the access barrier to the low-interest loans for energy upgrades caused by inflation in the cost of building materials (details supplied). [24837/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Last February, the Government approved a package of improved supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades thereby achieving lower energy bills and lower emissions. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has a number of schemes in place to support homeowners to upgrade their properties including the fully funded Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme and a number of part-funded schemes such as the Better Energy Homes Scheme and the Community Energy Grant Scheme, as well as the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme (NHEUS) which was established last year. This allows homeowners to choose the best home upgrade option to suit their particular needs.

The cost of a retrofit depends on a range of factors including the size and type of home as well as the age and starting condition of the property and the retrofitting works required or recommended. The enhanced grant levels announced last year were informed by detailed analysis and research led by the Department and the SEAI. My officials engage with their counterparts in the SEAI on an ongoing basis in relation to the operation of the schemes. The SEAI will continue to monitor costs and inflation on an ongoing basis, ensuring that grant rates are kept under review taking account of evolving science, innovation, evolving technology and other relevant factors.

Details of the various energy upgrade schemes are available on the SEAI website at: www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/.

My Department is also 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, which will be backed by a counter guarantee provided by the EIB Group.

The residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme will be the first consumer-focused guaranteed loan of its kind in Ireland. All stakeholders both at national and European level are committed to finalising the project and it is expected that the loan guarantee will be in place in Q3 2023.