James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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1029.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has had any consultations with visually impaired persons regarding the installation of heat pumps as part of the SEAI energy upgrades in their homes by local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31124/24]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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1030.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he aware of the difficulty that visually impaired persons will have in operating heat pump controls installed in their homes by local authorities as part of SEAI energy upgrades; if the availability of audible heat monitors has been considered in these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31125/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1029 and 1030 together.

My Department provides funding for the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) which aims to retrofit local authority owned houses to a BER of B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent.

Since 2013, Exchequer funding has been provided through my Department's Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) to support local authorities with the retrofit of local authority owned homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Over the period 2013 to the end of 2023, local authorities received over €308 million in funding to carry out energy upgrade works on over 79,000 properties.

In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the Energy Efficient Retrofit Programme (EERP), 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 (BER)/Cost Optimal Equivalent 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.

Works eligible under my Department's revised EERP include attic/cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation where required, windows and doors replacement and the installation of a heat pump.

My Department also provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants scheme to carry out works on social housing stock to address the needs of older people, people with a disability or overcrowded situations. The detailed administration of this scheme including assessment, approval and prioritisation of applications is the responsibility of local authorities.