Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 57, 59 and 60 together.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) operates the Warmer Homes Scheme on behalf of my Department. Delivering free energy upgrades to low-income households and reducing the waiting times for the Warmer Homes Scheme is a top priority for my Department and the SEAI. My officials continue to work with the SEAI to maximise and accelerate the output of free energy upgrades provided under this important scheme.

Last year saw a record spend of €158 million under the scheme with an allocation of almost €210 million in place for 2024. This budget includes funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

In recent years, the Warmer Homes Scheme has delivered a greater volume of deeper and more complex upgrades. This is reflected in the average cost of upgrades which have seen an almost tenfold increase from €2,600 in 2015 to just under €25,000 in 2023. These deeper upgrades mean that more lower income homeowners are benefitting significantly from warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills and reduced emissions. However, it is important to acknowledge that deeper retrofits take longer to complete.

This improvement in the upgrades provided under the scheme in tandem with increased awareness of the multiple benefits of retrofit are driving significantly increased levels of demand. Approximately 24,000 applications from homeowners across the country were received in 2022 and 2023 combined. Over 10,300 upgrades were delivered in total in 2022 and 2023. Of this figure 295 upgrades were delivered to homes in Kerry and 3,517 upgrades delivered to homes in Dublin, in 2022 and 2023 combined. At the end of 2023 there were 417 homes on the work programme for Co Kerry and 5,971 homes on the work programme for Co Dublin.

For the homes completed in 2023, the average waiting time from application to completion was 20 months. This is a reduction from 26 months for homes completed in 2022.

The significant reductions in the average waiting time has been achieved through, inter alia, the following actions taken to reduce the timeline to completion and increase output under the scheme:

• Record funding has been allocated;
• SEAI has been allocated additional staff for the Warmer Homes Scheme;
• SEAI has worked to increase contractor output through active contract engagement and management;
• Actions were taken to address ongoing supply chain and inflationary pressures; and
• A new €700 million contractor panel has been put in place for the next 4 years, which has increased contractor capacity to 36.