Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department launched the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme (EERP) in 2013 with the aim of funding retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013, over 77,500 local authority social housing dwellings have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of over €251 million.

In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the programme, designed around the Programme for Government's commitment led by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications that calls for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent (BER) standard by 2030, of which, approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes, with grant funding provided by my Department for those local authority housing retrofits.

In 2023, my Department announced that funding of €87 million is available under the Energy Efficient Retrofit Programme for the retrofit of approximately 2,400 social homes. Work in relation to the 2023 programme is nearing completion and current indicators show that the original target of 2,400 retrofits is expected to be completed this year. Full details in relation to delivery under the 2023 Energy Efficiency Programme will be available early in 2024.

As notified in budget 2024, €90 million is being made available to the local authority sector for the retrofitting of social housing next year. Funding allocations to each individual local authority are still under consideration and will be announced early in 2024. However my Department has advised local authorities that they can undertake works up to 65% of the value of their 2023 allocation in advance of formal allocations issuing in 2024.