Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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168. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government for the expansion on HVO usage to include home heating; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64348/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is a bioliquid which can be used as a renewable energy and which, in a transport context, is classified as a biofuel. HVO is currently available for consumers to purchase for both transport and heating purposes.

The National Heat Study, published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, recommended that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for heating systems in decarbonising buildings, with district heating also being an option that can be widely deployed. However, the Heat Study also recognised the potential role for sustainable bioenergy for buildings that require alternative routes to decarbonisation, and that is being considered as part of a suite of measures to decarbonise heat.

The Programme for Government 2025 commits to targeting older homes still using oil to switch to renewable heating systems and to consider the use of sustainable bioliquids to reduce emissions from existing home boilers where deep retrofits are not possible in the short term. These commitments are framing the work underway to develop a Heat Policy Statement and a Roadmap to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Heating Systems.

My Department is also working on the introduction of a Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) for the heat sector. Under current proposals, the RHO will obligate suppliers of all fossil fuels used for heating purposes to ensure a proportion of the energy they supply is renewable. As such, all renewable fuels, including bioliquids used for heat that satisfy the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive, will be considered eligible for certification under the scheme. The RHO Heads of Bill were approved by Government and drafting of the RHO legislation is currently underway.