Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the name of organisations who have been approved for one stop shop services for retrofitting homes; the expected number of upgrades which is expected to be able to complete per year when fully operational, and if the level of national coverage has yet been achieved. [41985/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Retrofit Plan sets out the Government's approach to achieving the Climate Action Plan targets of upgrading the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2/cost optimal level and installing 400,000 heat pumps to replace older, less efficient heating systems by 2030.

In February 2022, Government announced an enhanced package of measures to support the uptake of home energy upgrades. This included the introduction of a new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme and the establishment of a network of registered One Stop Shops to offer a start-to-finish project management service for home energy upgrades.

There are now 17One-Stop-Shopsregistered by SEAI. Of these, five were registered in the 2nd Quarter of 2023, which points to growing confidence in the sector about the future growth prospects of the retrofit market. The One-Stop-Shop service has delivered 839 homes so far this year, representing a 161% increase on the same period last year.

As part of the registration process, applicant organisations are required to submit a strategic plan to SEAI. These plans include a minimum 2 year forward focused plan setting out their approach to home energy upgrades and describe its development and growth plans under the new Scheme.

The One-Stop-Shops are distributed across Ireland, with nine offering services nationwide throughtheir network of contractorsthroughout the country and eight working within geographic regions. Details of the registered One Stop Shops, including their contact details, are available on the SEAI website at: www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/one-stop-shop/registered-providers/.

SEAI also continue to actively engage with the construction sector with the aim of attracting more companies to register asOne-Stop-Shops. A number of companies are already in the process of registering asone-stop-shopsand SEAI are guiding them through the registration process, with the expectation that by year end the number of registered One-Stop-Shops will have increased to 20.

My Department is working with SEAI to build the required capacity across the range of residential and community energy efficiency schemes, including the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, to deliver, on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target of 500,000 by 2030. A significant number of these upgrades will be through One-Stop-Shops.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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137. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the latest position in relation to the proposed loan for retrofitting being developed with the EIB; whether it is intended that this will only be available for works above a certain threshold, or achieving a certain standard of BER; the likely maximum term of the loan and the prospective interest rate range which will apply and if it is expected it will be open to the public before the end of the year. [41986/23]

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, which will be backed by a counter guarantee provided by the EIB Group.

The roll-out of the loan scheme is a key action of Climate Action Plan 2023 and the National Retrofit Plan and will be the first consumer-focused guaranteed loan of its kind in Ireland. It 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 all eligible homeowners and non-corporate landlords, making comprehensive home energy efficiency upgrades more affordable to consumers.

Further, it 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 to meet the required targets.

The development of this innovative scheme is a complex process involving several stakeholders. Intensive engagement to develop the scheme is ongoing and there has been extensive due diligence between the EIB Group and the Irish banking and credit union sector. 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 this year. Details on the term of the loan and applicable interest rates will be available upon launch at that time.