Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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28. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of homes that have been retrofitted in each of the past ten years. [17288/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has one of the most ambitious home retrofit targets in the world. The National Retrofit Plan sets out how these targets will be met, including an €8 billion financial allocation in the period to 2030.

A range of measures has been introduced under the Retrofit Plan in recent years to support the achievement of our targets. These include:

• enhanced SEAI grant schemes with simplified application processes and faster approvals, including a greater focus on heat pumps;

• a reformed Warmer Homes Scheme for homeowners in energy poverty with expanded eligibility, increased depth of retrofit, prioritisation of the worst performing homes and a higher number of homes supported;

• establishment of a network of 24 SEAI registered One Stop Shops with further growth in the network expected this year; and

• the Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme providing retrofit loans with interest rates as low as 3%.

The measures introduced are translating into delivery. The SEAI data show that in the ten years since 2015 almost 274,000 home energy upgrades were supported. This is despite the significant interruption across most of 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The accelerated growth in retrofit activity from 2022 onwards shows the continued strong demand for the SEAI residential and community energy efficiency upgrade schemes. This will be further built upon this year through the record budget of €550 million allocated to the SEAI to support over 64,500 home energy upgrades, including Solar PV. Data from the SEAI show almost 12,000 homes have already been supported so far this year.

My officials will continue to work with SEAI and other relevant Departments and Agencies in order to deliver on the range of Programme for Government commitments related to retrofit.