Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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56. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government for an update on progress towards our goal of 500,000 retrofit upgrades by 2030. [60239/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Climate Action Plan (CAP) sets out policies, measures and actions to be taken to achieve the sectoral emissions ceilings for the residential sector. These measures include the retrofit of existing homes and replacing existing fossil fuel heating systems with heat pumps. The plan sets ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2/cost optimal level and install 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes by the end of 2030 to support the achievement of the required emissions reductions.

The National Retrofit Plan sets out the Government’s approach to delivering on these targets. The plan itself is built on four key pillars of demand, supply, financing and governance, with actions and initiatives flowing from each. A range of measures have been introduced under the plan in recent years to support the achievement of our targets.

From 2019 to end September 2025, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) schemes provided over €1.5 billion in support to homeowners for 228,350 home energy upgrades, including 30,600 fully-funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme and 17,100 heat pump installations. In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage funded a further 14,300 Local Authority upgrades, including over 7,250 heat pumps between 2019 to 2024.

This year, a record budget of €550 million was allocated to the SEAI to support over 64,500 home energy upgrades to further build on the momentum seen in recent years. In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has made €90 million available for the Local Authority Retrofit Scheme.

Budget 2026 announced funding of €558 million from the carbon tax for SEAI residential and community energy upgrades, including the Solar PV (photovoltaic) Scheme. This is an €89 million increase on last year’s carbon tax allocation and means that more funding than ever will be available to make homes warmer, healthier, more comfortable and less expensive to heat. This allocation is expected to be further supplemented with additional funding, such as an allocation from the European Regional Development Fund. Further details will be published as part of the Revised Estimates Volume later this year.

The implementation of National Retrofit Plan actions will continue to be progressed. Increasing the uptake of energy efficiency measures and renewables among homeowners is a top priority for my Department, and my officials, working in partnership with their counterparts in the SEAI, will seek to progress the Programme for Government commitments over the lifetime of this Government.