Vol. 1051 No. 2
81. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of homes that had their retrofitting applications refused in 2022 and 2023, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10135/24]
In the past two years, for every four homes that have been retrofitted under the warmer homes scheme for those in fuel poverty, one application has been cancelled. The majority of these cancellations have occurred because the SEAI has said that no works are possible or that works are not technically possible. These people have sat in cold houses for two winters after applying for their homes to be upgraded only to be told they will get no help whatsoever from the State to make their homes warmer.
Last year, almost 5,900 homes were upgraded under the warmer homes free upgrade scheme, with an average spend of €25,000 per home and €157 million in total expenditure. A range of upgrades are recommended for each property depending on the characteristics of the home and the suitability of the works available based on a technical survey of the home.
Applications for this scheme can be cancelled by either the homeowner or the SEAI. Homeowners can cancel the application for reasons, including ill health or moving house. Applications can also be cancelled by SEAI because the survey has determined that no works are possible, for example, where the home is already insulated to the level targeted by the scheme or where the home cannot be appropriately insulated in line with the building regulations.
Data provided by the SEAI shows that a total of 1,102 applications were cancelled in 2022 and that 1,768 were cancelled in 2023. In both years, 18% of the total were cancelled by the homeowner and 82% by the SEAI. This is a significant reduction on 2017, when one in three homes was deemed unsuitable for the works available. The reduction followed changes to the scheme in 2018 that allowed additional wall insulation measures to be provided. My Department is working with the SEAI to determine whether additional mechanisms need to be introduced to further reduce the number of cancelled applications.
The Minister has on his desk academic research showing that these people are more likely to end up on a hospital trolley due to inaction on the retrofitting of their homes. The SEAI tells us that small actions can make every home warmer and yet these people, the people most vulnerable to fuel poverty in this country, are being ignored. Will the Minister explain why those attics cannot be insulated, why the lighting in those homes cannot be upgraded, why windows and doors cannot be draught-proofed and why lagging jackets cannot be provided? Will he explain why someone could not sit down with the people in those homes to show them how to use their smart meter? Why can energy inefficient appliances such as washing machines not be replaced? Why can those basic measures not be carried out rather than people being told that we will do nothing for them and that they will have to survive on their own?
If I may say so, the warmer homes scheme is an incredible success and enjoys great support from Government. Some €157 million is provided for the scheme a year and that figure will increase year on year. We are meeting our targets. It is working. The scheme is very popular and there has been a large increase in the number of applications because people realise that this 100% State support for those in the home is real. To illustrate the scale of the change that has happened, some ten years ago, around when Deputy Naughten was in office, the average payment under the warmer homes scheme was something like €2,000. It focused on those smaller measures, which are not insignificant. However, we decided that, if we were going to go into a house, we were going to go big. Five years ago, the average investment in the home under the warmer homes scheme was approximately €12,000. It is now €25,000 because we want to keep people out of hospital. We want to make sure they live in homes that are fit to live in.
There are some houses, particularly those built before 1940, built of brick, stone or other materials where you have to be careful about putting in insulation. You could end up creating a problem in the house, introducing a layer of damp that would worsen people's health. In such circumstances, you have to step back and recognise that this would do more harm than good. We are reviewing it. As I have said, we revised the process back in 2018. We will continue to review the scheme further to see how we can be flexible. However, we are obliged to spend the money in the interests of the householder and of the State and not to go into houses where it is not appropriate to do so.
Each of the measures I have outlined can be carried out without any risk to the householder or the home. These measures, the low-hanging fruit, are not being carried out in those homes. The reality is that there are people in this country who are choosing between eating and heating. They have waited for two winters for works to be carried out on their homes only for the State to tell them that we are going to do nothing at all for them. At the very minimum, why could the SEAI not work with EnergyCloud? An installation process of one hour would at least allow these people to get a free tank of hot water when renewable electricity is not being used, especially at night. There are basic measures that can be carried out for these people and these families but we are not prepared to do that. Why not?
There is a range of other measures and supports. There is grant support of up to 50% to allow householders to do that. However, we made a conscious strategic decision to move away from the old system, where it was typically small measures that were provided and when a house might have to be visited three, four or five times to get it up to the standard we want. We deliberately decided to focus on really making the home efficient to help people out of fuel poverty and to improve their health. We decided that the whole range of works that could and should be done would be done in one visit. The strategic decision we made was to go into deep retrofitting and to really address the issues with houses. The Deputy is right; there are many households waiting for works under this scheme. That is because it is incredibly popular. It is highly successful. We will show further flexibility. The SEAI is showing further flexibility in a whole variety of different schemes. However, the basis strategic decision to go in and do a proper full-on job and to focus on that was the right one. We will use other measures to support householders and to help people out of fuel poverty, the issue we will address through the next question.
82. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the steps he is taking to address fuel poverty in homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10134/24]
As I have said, people in this country are choosing between eating and heating and the Government's policy on addressing fuel poverty through retrofitting homes is either whole duck or no dinner, that is, to either do a deep retrofit or do nothing. That is not good enough. The ESRI report on energy poverty shows that 550,000 households, the equivalent of 1.3 million people, are in crisis as a result of energy poverty. We are failing these people every day.
In December 2022, Government published the energy poverty action plan. The plan sets out the range of measures introduced to ensure that those least able to afford increased energy costs are protected and supported to adequately heat and power their homes. The implementation of the action plan is being monitored by a cross-departmental interagency steering group chaired by my Department.
The inaugural energy poverty stakeholder forum was held in July 2023. The forum provided a platform for stakeholders to collaborate, to assess progress on objectives from across the action plan and to share new ideas to combat energy poverty. A report on the recommendations and outcomes of the energy poverty stakeholder forum was published at gov.ie. An annual report outlining progress under the various actions in the plan will be published in the coming weeks and public consultation will soon commence on a revised action plan, to be published later this year.
To support households in the near term, Government approved a new tranche of electricity credits in budget 2024. Over 2.2 million households are benefiting from a total of €450 per household. Three payments of €150, including VAT, are being made between December 2023 and next month, April 2024, at a cost of just over €1 billion. The Government also provided for a suite of one-off social welfare financial supports to assist people with the cost of living, including a lump sum of €300 to all fuel allowance recipients in November 2023.
Ultimately, the best way to combat energy poverty in the long term will be to continue to make the investments we have already discussed to improve the energy efficiency of homes, to boost renewable energy adoption and to increase interconnection with Europe to help reduce electricity costs.
In the first ten months of 2023, 724 GWh of wind energy were wasted due to curtailment. That is set to increase by about 15% over the coming years because of the way our grid is structured. The charity EnergyCloud has 75,000 households across the country that have signed up and are willing to have EnergyCloud's technology installed in their homes. This technology would provide them with a free tank of hot water when the wind is blowing and there is not a demand for the energy. EnergyCloud does not have the €300 per home to upgrade the 75,000 homes of people in fuel poverty to which I refer. Would the Minister consider working with EnergyCloud to facilitate it in doing that? Will he direct the SEAI to commission research to develop software that would allow this to happen through the use of our existing smart meters?
I helped launch EnergyCloud in Clondalkin last year. I absolutely support the initiative. It is part of the solution to address energy poverty, to lower emissions and to make more efficient use of our renewable energy powers. The answer is "Yes", but the exact mechanisms in terms how it evolves and develops obviously must be within European and other laws. I absolutely believe it has a vital role to play and can be part of the solution to cut energy poverty, cut our emissions and enhance renewable power.
In the context of electricity consumers, we have spent a substantial amount of money installing smart meters in every home. to date, 1.6 million meters have been installed. Will the Minister give a commitment that he will ask the SEAI to commission research to use the technology that has been installed in homes so that it could be used to facilitate an initiative such as EnergyCloud or any other similar initiatives? A similar initiative is run by Glen Dimplex in using their innovative storage quantum heaters that could act as battery storage in this country, and provide an income for some of those homes in fuel poverty homes currently. Does the Minister believe that something is fundamentally wrong when we have 1.6 million smart meters installed and yet we have only 300,000 people registered to get the data? Why has the regulator not ensured that the development of the software and technology necessary to allow people to access that data?
Deputy Naughten is Chair of the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands. Excellent work is being done by that committee in the area of energy poverty. I have spoken strongly about the fact that we have responded in the short term and cash was the way to do that in the short term. We have long-term plans for the retrofitting of housing stock, which is absolutely where we should be headed in the longer term, but we need to do something in the medium term to reach those people the energy transition will otherwise leave behind.
Deputy Naughten outlined a number of ideas. I absolutely believe that smart meters should be part of what we are doing. There is a role for the regulator in helping people interpret the relevant data, particularly those who are at risk of fuel poverty. EnergyCloud can be part of the solution. I would love to see solar panels installed on every social home across Ireland - if that is possible - in order that people can feel the good of that energy transition in the medium term and are not just waiting for the long term.
I want to join with my colleagues. We are all on the same committee. There are two very simple things. There is energy out there. However, we are turning off the wind turbines because we think there is nobody to use it. There is plenty of energy available. There are people who need hot water or who maybe could use that energy to do other things in the evening. Let us use technology to people's benefit.
The second point is one I do not understand. It will take years to refurbish every local authority house. I cannot understand why in the interim every local authority house is not getting solar panels as a separate parallel scheme. One does not interfere with the other. We need to be ruthlessly practical and we have to stop people coming up with all sorts of reasons not to do things. In this country, we have to adopt the motto of "Do it". If there are issues to be resolved then resolve them and do not use them as barriers.
I agree with all three Deputies. There is huge potential for us in the use of the smart metering system to improve both energy savings and the use of wind power and, in particular, solar power. I also agree that the application or the widespread deployment of solar will be a major part of the energy future, even in cloudy Ireland. I absolutely agree that all three of those initiatives are something we should advance at full speed and in every way we can.
Deputy Naughten referred to the SEAI, which has a role, but I also believe that the regulator has the key role. It has taken us time to get the scale of smart metering we now have but we are within sight to having universal access to smart metering. This then makes it much easier for us to be able to deploy them in a way that is much more effective and to increase the use of them for variable charging and other mechanisms that will see their real benefit coming through. I look forward to any recommendations from the committee in that regard. From my perspective that is exactly the direction we need to go. The characteristics of this new energy system is a balancing system where we really ramp up demand when the volume of renewable power is there and we manage it efficiently when it is not. I agree 100% with what the three Deputies said.
84. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide details of the increase in the amount of electricity being generated from onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and other renewables respectively in 2023; the research being carried out in the State in respect of harnessing wave and tidal energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11069/24]
Leaving aside the historical hydroelectricity that we produce, in more recent years most of the increase in energy has been onshore wind. This is very good. What increase have we had in relation to onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and other renewables in 2023? What research is going on in respect of tidal and wave energy? If these could be harnessed, they provide a very interesting source of energy with a higher reliability than onshore or offshore wind.
I am glad to report to Deputy Ó Cuív that last year was a very successful year for renewable electricity in Ireland. According to figures published by the SEAI renewable sources accounted for an average of 46% of the electricity generation in Ireland last year, which was an increase of over 9% on the 2022 figure. Ireland now has more than 6 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity. Wind, particularly onshore wind, remains our largest source of renewable power. It accounted for 39% of all electricity generated in 2023. With approximately 4.8 GW of wind generation, Ireland is a world leader in the level of installed wind energy capacity per capita, as well as in the integration of variable renewable electricity onto the grid. Solar generation is rapidly growing, with more than 1 GW now installed. This is a major increase on the previous year. It is a near thirtyfold increase. Solar generation is highly complementary to wind generation and increased solar capacity will help Ireland to generate clean electricity all year round.
The SEAI provisionally estimates that electricity emissions in 2023 were 23.5% lower than in 2022. This figure will be finalised in the coming months by the EPA’s greenhouse gas inventory. The upcoming offshore renewable electricity future framework policy statement will contain several actions on the potential for ocean technologies. The SEAI is developing an offshore renewable electricity technology roadmap to 2050, due for publication in the coming months, which will inform future directions for State research and policy on harnessing wave and tidal energy in Ireland.
The Minister did not give me the figures for the increase in 2023 in the amount of electricity being generated from onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and other renewables, respectively.
It is a very specific question. The challenge is to have a year-on-year increase. The Minister is going to tell me there has been a big increase in solar energy last year. That is great news. I would like to get the figures. It frustrates me when I table a parliamentary question in which I specifically ask for data that must be available and I do not get a specific answer on the data requested. The Minister might give me the data on the increased electricity generation from each of the sources.
To give some of the figures, wind accounted for 39.5% of our power. That was some 9%-----
No, it is the increase.
It is 9% year on year.
For wind.
Yes. Hydro is 3%-----
What is the increase?
Last year, we had very high water levels. Typically, it is close to 2%. As a result, there was a 50% increase in hydro. As I said, this is because the water volumes were very high. For solar it was 1.4%, which was a 30-fold increase. It was an increase of 3,000%.
Can we get the exact figures?
I do not have the exact figures.
Can you get them and send them to me, as the question asked?
Those figures will bear out, I am sure-----
The data I was looking for-----
The figures are provisional. It requires the EPA to the do the final greenhouse gas inventories.
I am not going to argue about the-----
Deputy Ó Cuív can come back in again
I want to make the point that it was a very successful year, partly because it was very windy and because solar is now coming onstream. This is only the first year it is coming onstream. Approximately 100 households are having solar panels put on their roofs each day. We are putting them on every school. We have 600 MW of solar in fields and 400 MW on rooftops. This is not stopping; if anything, it is accelerating. It will increase. We have a further 2 GW of solar in the field which has already been through the auction process. This number will jump. We are going towards 80% renewables by the end of this decade. The big question is how we tap into ocean energy and turn it into an industrial opportunity. I will have to be upfront and honest and say that I am a great supporter of wave and tidal energy. They are probably more medium and longer term. The immediate opportunity is in offshore wind and there again we had a very successful auction system last year with 3 GW of offshore wind. We are going to go further south and west as we develop this resource.
I look forward to getting the detailed information as requested in the question. I will not come back on the Minister if there proves to be slight tolerance required or inaccuracies in the reply. My question is on wave and tidal energy. My understanding was the research on wave energy is ongoing. Ten years ago or more, Wavebob was carrying out tests in respect of wave energy in Galway Bay. The Minister's answer seems to indicate we have not even got this far. Are we going backwards on wave energy? My understanding is that it is much more consistent than wind. In other words, waves die down slower than the wind can die down and, therefore, it gives more consistent power than wind energy. I know that offshore is better than onshore because it a little bit more consistent. There is more wind offshore. My understanding is that wave energy would be even better again to overcome the peaks and troughs that are inevitable with renewable energy and how we use it. The crème de la crème, if we could harness it, would be tidal energy because it is twice a day, totally predictable and absolutely guaranteed.
I remember it was longer ago, 14 or 15 years ago, when the likes of Wavebob and OpenHydro, really good Irish companies, were deploying in the seas. It is something we massively supported in our previous time in government, along with Deputy Ó Cuív and others. We are continuing this. The SEAI is developing a marine energy test site west of Belmullet, which will go out to the Atlantic to seek carry out further testing in a harsher environment than that found in Galway Bay. We see this as having potential.
We have to be honest and upfront also. OpenHydro is probably the best energy company I have seen, dealt with and worked with. Unfortunately, the technology ran into difficulties which require further iterations and improvements. Similarly, with Wavebob it is not that we are giving up but it is a harsh environment. It is difficult to generate electricity in a marine environment. I absolutely commit to investing and supporting it. The reality and truth is that in the immediate future it is offshore wind that will provide the very large scale of volume. It is where the technology has developed and evolved. It is part of our ocean marine research investment future.
85. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications what action his Department is taking to ensure Ireland achieves its goal of 8 GW of solar connections by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10954/24]
Will the Minister outline what action the Department is taking to ensure Ireland achieves its goal of 8 GW of solar connections by 2030? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?
Solar energy is a growing source of electricity and is rapidly transforming Ireland's energy system, with more than 1 GW of solar generation now in place. This includes more than 400 MW of rooftop solar and nearly 600 MW of grid-scale solar connected.
The renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, has driven significant investment in solar energy in Ireland and has led to a major acceleration in the delivery of solar power to the grid over the past 24 months. RESS has more than 2 GW of solar projects contracted and due to deliver between 2024 and 2027, while further volumes are expected to connect under corporate power purchases in the same period. Further auction rounds, including RESS 4 later this year, can be expected to see continued participation by solar.
In addition to RESS, the microgeneration support scheme and the small-scale renewable electricity support scheme will underpin the delivery of rooftop and small-scale solar energy, including through the provision of grants to support rooftop solar at domestic and commercial level.
Aligning local development plans with national targets for solar and onshore wind, the development of and investment in the electricity network, as well as grid connection rules that enable the rapid deployment of renewables, are also critical to meeting our 2030 solar target. The accelerating renewables task force has been established to co-ordinate and track delivery of a work programme to achieve the 2030 targets for onshore renewables set out in the climate action plan.
I thank the Minister. He must accept that at present we have 1 GW of solar power and the target is to have 8 GW by 2030. The Minister said that building of 2 GW will commence over the next 12 months but 8 GW is a substantial target to try to reach in what is really a five-and-a-half-year time period. Is the Minister satisfied, from the submissions he has received and from the planning applications going to local authorities, that over the next two or three years we will see it increased by even 4 GW? The Minister referred to 2 GW but it would really need to increase by 4 GW over the coming three to four years. We have set targets of 80% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2030. Part of this will be through solar energy. If we do not reach the solar energy target we will not reach the 80% target. What efforts is the Department making to ensure we have a sufficient number of applications and that the building work can proceed for the delivery of solar panels?
I am confident we can do it. Solar will play a large part. I will give Deputy Burke some further figures to back this up. In 2022, there were 10,000 applications. We had only just introduced the microgeneration support scheme, which cost €24 million and had a capacity of 46 MW. Last year 22,000 homes received grant support, with a total value of €52 million. Applications are flying and the number is increasing all the time. I am told the industry is increasing the build-up of its capacity and the supply chain is working very well. As I said, 100 houses a day are putting solar panels on the roof but it is not just homes. Last autumn we introduced a new scheme to provide a grant of up to €162,000 to businesses for up to 1 MW solar installation. This has taken off. We filled up the order book straight away. We have already spent something like €15 million in supports. We are providing further finance. We said it was a pilot scheme but we are not stopping because it is working.
The publication of the new small-scale generation support scheme, which will go up to 5 MW of solar power, with the REFIT scheme, is really designed to support the farming sector and other sectors. I had a meeting with the community energy sector yesterday for us to develop community energy solutions. That support scheme will give a guaranteed price for solar up to 5 MW. Again, it is going to be a further element in the mix. That is not to mention the large-scale projects coming through the RESS and through the corporate power purchase agreements, PPAs. On five or six different fronts, we are seeing huge investment and advancement. To my mind, nothing is going to stop the solar revolution.
I referred to the 80% target for energy from renewable sources by 2030. In real terms, there has been a very slow roll-out of offshore wind. How fast can we now develop the offshore wind energy area? Its delivery needs to be expedited as well to reach the target of 80%. Are we satisfied that we have a sufficient number of people interested in developing projects? Second, have we set targets for each year as regards getting the infrastructure in place and delivering the projects in a timely manner, in particular by 2030? Are we just waiting for 2030 to arrive and then we will say that we reached 50% or 60% of the way when in fact we should be at 80% of energy coming from renewable sources?
It is a real challenge. It is a massive investment and a huge change. It is backed up. The key issues include the grid – EirGrid has 350 projects and the ESB has project pipeline of about €10 billion set out - and they are delivering that. They need to do it faster, but that is part of it. The other key constraint or bottleneck potentially is in planning. We have had a real difficulty in the last three years where there were various difficulties in our planning system, which people know about. It was very hard to get projects through the planning system. That has been a real impediment and that has delayed us. The review of the national planning framework will be critical in this regard. Aligned to that is the updating of the regional and county development plans. A lot of counties have not been supportive of the development of renewable power, and we need to update that position.
There are other key changes. We are absolutely confident that we can and will deliver offshore wind projects. That does require investment in our ports. The Port of Cork is one example. We need to make quick decisions on that and other ports so that we have the deployment capability. I believe we can do that. Again, we need to get it through the planning system. That will start this spring or early summer when we expect the planning applications to go in.
There are uncertainties, but we are deploying everything in the State to deliver it because it is good for people, the economy and for the climate.
The Minister mentioned the Port of Cork. As somebody who previously served on its board I know the board and staff in the Port of Cork are very go-ahead.
Deputy Burke has asked his supplementary questions.
I have a question in relation to-----
Deputy Burke has already asked his two supplementary questions.
That is all right. I am sorry. I apologise.
86. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications further to Parliamentary Question No. 122 of 25 January 2024, the date on which the export tariff phase of the small-scale renewable energy support scheme will be launched; the status of the work by economic consultants for his Department regarding the revision of the levelised cost of energy estimates required for small scale and community based generation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11059/24]
As the Minister knows, I am following up this issue for some time. The question relates to community-led small-scale renewable projects. I ask him to give us an update on that mouthful – in terms of the date on which the export tariff phase of the small-scale renewable energy support scheme will be launched and the status of the work by the economic consultants for his Department regarding the revision of the levelised cost of energy estimates. That is a mouthful. We might come back to the language being used here.
Through the first two renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, auctions, my Department provided pathways and supports for communities to participate in renewable energy projects through the application of a community projects category. However, in the future, support for communities for the development of renewable projects will now transition to the small-scale renewable electricity support scheme, SRESS. The SRESS will not be auction-based, rather it is anticipated that support for export projects would be through an export tariff.
The export tariff phase of the SRESS, which will support small-scale and community renewable projects, is expected to launch within the coming weeks in the second quarter of this year.
The SRESS will offer a simpler route to market for community renewable projects, aligning more closely to their experience and capacity. In order to reflect up to date trends in input prices and financing costs for renewable energy technologies, an updated analysis of the levelised cost of energy estimates required for small-scale and community-based generation has been undertaken by economic consultants in order to inform the tariff setting process for the SRESS. My Department is currently reviewing this analysis to inform the final scheme design and tariff levels as well as an assessment of consumer impacts.
I raise with the Minister the language we are using. I am on his side in terms of what he is doing. I do not know how I could explain to anyone export tariff phase of the SRESS. We are talking about community-led renewable projects, either solar or wind. The Minister might clarify what we are talking about here. Is it just solar now in this new phase of involving the community? The previous two phases involved an auction base. I appreciate that has now been changed. I welcome that. There should never have been an auction phase. Of the seven community projects in the first phase, only four remained. They were due to energise in 2023. I do not know whether they have or not.
In the second round the eight community projects that were successful were to energise by 2025. They included solar and wind. Will they energise and will they be on time in 2025?
Then we moved forward because the Minister said it was right. I happen to agree with his decision but he has given me no analysis. Therefore, I cannot learn what the problems were in the previous rounds and what the improvements are in this round. How can I lead or be part of a project on the ground for example in my community in the Claddagh? I will finish on time and come back in.
As it happens, I had a meeting yesterday with a variety of community energy organisations. The first subject we discussed at the meeting was the fact that there is a recognition that it has not built up at anywhere near the scale, speed and diversity that we want. We will have to continue to make sure that it does and start to revise whatever programmes we have in place.
My understanding is that possibly three or four of the projects that were among the first to go through the RESS will be energised but they have had real difficulties. Of the eight projects in the second RESS auction, we expect that they will be delivered but that is not certain. The difficulties have typically revolved around grid connection and the cost of grid connection. I mentioned earlier the difficulty with planning and the timelines involved in that. There is also a difficulty in terms of the speed with which community groups are able to respond. In many of the instances a developer can make a quick decision, whereas for a community group, given the nature of the kind of inclusive process required, it takes longer.
The State has recognised that. We revised our approach by giving direct grant supports to help community groups. The SEAI administers them. We agreed yesterday that we need to be more ambitious in how they are deployed. We must not be afraid to make some risky investments where we provide grant support and a project does not actually develop or does not happen. That is part of what we need to do to help make it happen. As part of the meeting yesterday, we also met with the regulator and with the grid companies because they too have a role in making sure that we overcome the grid hurdles, which are probably the key reason that we have not seen the scale of community renewable energy projects that we want to see.
I hope the change in the Acting Chair will benefit me in regard to the minute of speaking time allocated to me.
Given the language, I wonder how we can sell this to communities. I believe communities have been ahead of us the whole way. The Minister knows from my experience with Galway that it led the approach to zero waste. We do not get governments to lead the community, which are crying out to lead. What they need is support. The language is awful. I do not know what it means and I cannot explain it. The Minister will have to explain the SRESS to me in plain English.
Second, we still do not know if the four projects will be energised. They were supposed to be energised before the end of 2023. We do not know whether they were energised or if the others will be energised. This is positive. It is very good theoretically but I would love to see it set out in a document. Perhaps the Library and Research Service could produce a digest under the Minister's instructions.
It could explain what is going on here, what percentage of the projects is community led, what the difficulties are, why the grid connection cannot be sorted out, what the guidelines are and when the new scheme will be up and running so I can work with the Minister, my community, look at Galway city and pick out each of the communities that is self contained, such as those in The Claddagh, Shannaunnafeola and Bóthar na Trá. I could pick out any number of such communities.
Part of the work the SEAI is doing is providing exactly that sort of information, so I will send to the Deputy some of the material it has presented.
I am asking for an analysis from the Department. I have been asking for an analysis for ages.
The SEAI is an agency of our Department and it is best placed. It runs the sustainable energy community scheme. We had a very good meeting yesterday, as I said, and that immediate connection between the community developers and the SEAI is important. It has presented a lot of practical and easy-to-digest information. That to my mind is a key part of how we make this work.
The new renewable scheme will be available within the coming weeks, in a short number of weeks, and it will be significant because it will provide a guaranteed price and not force community groups or others to go through a complex auction process that is intimidating and can be very hard to negotiate if you are not fully versed in the issues and do not have experience of, or a background in, developing projects. It is up to 5 MW in scale and my expectation is it will be particularly strong for solar solutions because, in truth, a lot of the smaller scale wind projects are not as economic as the larger projects. The nature of wind power has changed and scale matters in lowering costs. That is less the case for solar power.
To return to a debate we had on an earlier question, it is going to be critical for us to be able to integrate, manage and balance the system we have to make efficient use of the existing grid system. Listening to the representatives of the ESB recently, the company is showing new-----
Minister-----
-----and innovative flexibility in respect of how we use the existing grid. In many cases, the real cost and impediment to developing community energy is the cost of the transformer in the station and building up the capacity of the grid to be able to take it. The ESB is taking a new innovative approach-----
Minister-----
-----whereby it is looking at how to use flexibility within the grid and examining hybrid connections and other such measures. That approach, along with the shared renewable energy systems, SRES, could be a game-changer to allow community energy to flourish.
Minister, can we try to stick to the designated time period?
The kettle is calling the pot black. We were only there a moment ago.
88. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if there are proposals to expand the range of services available through the post office network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11122/24]
As the Minister knows, our post office network is a considerable asset for our country and for communities in urban and rural settings. Thankfully, there has in recent years been an extension of some of the services that our post office network can provide, with good services being provided for Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, AIB. It has been suggested that the Government should give detailed consideration to the provision of other government services through the post office network. The Minister might let me know if any such proposals are under consideration at present.
An Post is a commercial State body with a mandate to act commercially. An Post has statutory responsibility for the State's postal service and the post office network. The Government is committed to a sustainable future for An Post and the post office network as they provide a key component of the economic and social infrastructure throughout Ireland. The Government recognises the importance of the high-value and high-quality post office network to our citizens throughout the country as well as the central and trusted role of postmasters in our communities. My Department is providing funding of €10 million per annum from within its existing capital provision over a three-year fixed term, from 2023 to 2025, to An Post to support a sustainable, nationwide post office network in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. The funding provides time and space for An Post to accelerate the transformation and commercialisation of the network to ensure a relevant and commercially viable network delivering more services to citizens and small businesses.
An Post, including through the post office network, provides important services to its customers and is contracted to provide key government services to citizens. These include banking services, social welfare and State savings as well as SME services and support. Decisions relating to the network, including actively seeking new business and exploring opportunities to develop new or enhanced product lines, are operational matters for the board and management of the company and not matters in which I have an immediate function. Clearly, we have a keen interest and are working closely with the company to ensure it has a viable and diverse business into the future.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, has been engaging with the Irish Postmasters' Union. I have been told that by the personnel of the union and I know they appreciate that. There is one issue that should be addressed. Post offices are, in reality, small businesses. They, like every other enterprise in the country, have faced increased costs in recent years. Worthwhile and necessary initiatives were undertaken by the Government to assist small businesses and households with cost-of-living pressures and I would sincerely hope the post office network would be included in any such measures.
I mentioned AIB and Bank of Ireland. Substantial banking facilities are available for those banks through the post office network. In my region of the country, we lost Ulster Bank, which had a huge presence in our area over many decades. Its withdrawal was a considerable loss to many of the communities I have the privilege of representing. Thankfully, Permanent TSB took up some of those particular offices and branches and nowadays has a good network. I understand that, at present, Permanent TSB banking services are not available through the post office network. Perhaps the Minister's Department could engage with Permanent TSB to see if it could use the post office network in towns where it does not have a presence. We have otherwise only AIB and the Bank of Ireland. I am thankful we have Permanent TSB today. I know that, in my county, we welcome its increased presence as a result of the closure of Ulster Bank, whose services our communities had enjoyed for well over a century. Ulster Bank was a considerable loss to our communities. Permanent TSB might be an issue for the Department to consider. I welcome the fact that Permanent TSB has expanded its range of services and its branch network throughout the country.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy. The fundamental strength of An Post is that it is trusted throughout the country, especially through the network. Local postmasters have for generations served their local communities. That trust is enormously beneficial. It is also an organisation which is able and efficient at handling millions of transactions every week. Those include financial transactions and other important business.
The Deputy's suggestion is a good one. Where a community does not have a branch of a local bank, it makes absolute sense that we use the post office to its maximum to provide cash and other financial services. The company has been through difficult times and we have had to support the network with an investment of €10 million over a three-year period. I understand there has been a recent improvement in the performance of the financial services division, which is probably helped by higher interest rates. For all banks, very low interest rates have presented difficulties. I also understand that the terms An Post has with AIB and the Bank of Ireland have improved to recognise the important function the post offices provide.
The Deputy's suggestion is a good one but it is a matter for the company. We do not enter into immediate commercial, contract or other negotiations, but through engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, and my engagement with the company, I will happily see the suggestion passed on. However, we must look further. The wider An Post organisation is seeing a continuing 6% reduction in mail volume per annum. That has been a long-term and ongoing trend. Counter to that, there has been a low double-digit increase in parcel revenue and business. As well as looking at financial services, we do, will and should look at other diversification opportunities for An Post and the post office network. It is in a challenging situation and there are no two ways about that. The core business is contracting and some of the social welfare and other provisions are changing as many parts of society move away from a cash-led business. It is a challenging situation for the company but we are determined to support the company and the post office network because they provide an important social and economic role.
The services from the Department of Social Protection that are provided through the post office network must be maintained. If there are changes to the television licence system and the method of supporting public broadcasting in this country or if the current system is continued, it should still be operated through the post office network. If Revenue were to be involved in the collection of charges to fund public service broadcasting, it could be done through the post office network as the collection of the local property tax is done.
I agree with previous speakers. We are so lucky to have our post offices, particularly in rural Ireland, because they play a significant role in that area where people are able to meet and the services and postmasters are excellent. However, we need to make sure we keeping adding on extras, be they banking facilities or something else. I am a firm believer that people should be able to tax their cars there. Local authorities are going online, and while that is fine for some, there are only a few hours a day where people can go into local authorities and tax their car. Do we need to look at putting that in our post offices? The post office can give us a wide range of services. We need to support post offices in rural Ireland and give them every advantage we can to make sure they can provide as many services as we need.
The issue of the television licence will be considered by Government in the wider context. Last year, €131,884,000 was raised through the television licence. It is really important we maintain that. It is very important for public service broadcasting that people pay the licence fee and we support journalism at a time of disinformation and fake news. An Post is the net beneficiary of 7% of the licence fee with regard to collection, with €1.9 million per year going to postmasters. A decision has not been made regarding what the future revenue system for RTÉ and other media organisations will be but the role of An Post will be one of the issues we consider within that.
89. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if consideration has been given to the creation of a funding mechanism to assist with the conversation of fossil fuel-run community district heating systems, details supplied, into more sustainable fuel-run systems and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11190/24]
Has any consideration been given to the grant scheme that exists or whether there is a need for a new grant scheme that would assist with the conversion of a gas-fed community or communal district heating system in Carlinn Hall in Dundalk to a more sustainable renewable fuel-run system? Obviously, the district heating steering group got the SEAI to produce a report into a number of alternatives, including geothermal, but my big ask is that there be engagement with the management company - the residents and all the stakeholders - to deliver this while accepting that third parties and private companies are also involved.
I know Deputy Ó Murchú has been in regular contact with me and my officials on this issue, which I know has been a real issue for the residents of Carlinn Hall, which I launched 15 years ago so I am familiar with the housing estate referred to by the Deputy.
The district heating steering group, DHSG, report, which was approved by Government in July 2023 contains a range of recommendations setting the future policy direction for the development of district heating. As part of its work, the DHSG asked the SEAI to carry out a research project using the scheme in question as the study location with the aim of understanding how a typical communal heating system operates in Ireland; assessing options to retrofit low-carbon heat sources, including indicative costs; and making recommendations for both existing and future heat networks in Ireland.
The published report contains a number of recommendations for the scheme for the short to long term and contains recommendations for communal heat networks generally. Among the options that were examined in the SEAI report for replacing the existing gas boiler were heat pumps or a biomass boiler. Grants may be available in that regard and the SEAI’s support scheme for renewable heat, for example, offers installation grants of up to 40% to support investment in renewable heating systems. The scheme in question is privately owned and managed and implementation of any of the recommendations specific to this scheme would be a matter for the relevant parties to decide upon.
I welcome the fact the report was produced as it is necessary not just for this particular communal heating system but the idea of communal and district heating systems across the board. However, there needs to be some element of engagement, including with the management company, which in real terms is a number of the residents who would generally go back to the rest of the residents regarding making any determination. They are willing to use whatever schemes are there. I hope they are all fit for purpose. If there was any facility, be that through the offices of the Minister or the SEAI or both to have real engagement with the management company and Frontline Energy to put together the best recommendation and how it can be delivered while accepting that it will be down to the residents making a determination and will involve third parties to deliver on whatever renewable means are best suited, I would welcome it.
The appropriate organisation in respect of such engagement would be the SEAI, which helped commission the original report. We have the advantage here that there is a detailed feasibility study that could give us lessons for other national applications with recommendations, so I see no reason the residents could not take the route of engaging with the SEAI to see what the best next steps are.
I would like to think this engagement would happen. Will the Minister's office assist in ensuring it can happen? I will be in contact with the Minister about that because we need to deal with this in some sort of structured way while accepting the difficulties and third parties that are involved.
By all means.
91. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the measures in place for the deposit return scheme for housebound or disabled persons who shop for groceries online and are unable to physically access the deposit return scheme in shops; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11151/24]
93. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the measures he has taken to rectify the deposit return scheme, which is inaccessible in its current format for disabled people, and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11127/24]
What measures is the Minister taking with the deposit return scheme, which is inaccessible in its current format for disabled people?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 91 and 93 together.
The deposit return scheme was set up in such a way with the regulations published requiring that the scheme be accessible for all, so it is a legal requirement that participants in the scheme make sure their return point operations are accessible to everybody in the community. With that in mind, a set of suppliers was approved by Re-turn.ie so that these machines would be accessible. There was engagement with disability groups before the scheme went live. Since then, through the National Disability Authority and other disability groups, a forum is being convened so that, during the changeover period, any issues that arise regarding accessibility can be resolved. I know that Re-turn.ie is committed to making sure the scheme is accessible to all and that any changes that are needed to ensure everybody can access the scheme and use it as required are introduced. I give a commitment to support that.
The machines are too high for wheelchair users. They cannot reach the place where you actually input the bottles or cans. There is no Braille or raised marking on the cans or bottles for people who are blind or visually impaired. People who order their shopping online have no mechanism to return their bottles or cans. That is something that could be easily resolved working with the supermarkets or shops involved but, as yet, there is nothing. The machines and the actual logo are much more important. Wheelchair users need to be able to use the machines, return their bottles and recoup the money they have spent on them.
In the case of people having their bottles and cans delivered to their homes, Re-Turn is engaging with the national Meals on Wheels network to find a way to return bottles and cans to people so they can get their money back.
Regarding the accessibility of the machines, they should not be set at a height above 1.2 m to ensure people in wheelchairs can reach them. In terms of people who have a visual impairment, the machines should not require the use of a screen. In other words, they should be entirely usable without having to navigate a visual interface. The ticket should come out with the refund printed on it automatically without having to press a button. The scheme should be able to be used by people who are blind. I have directly engaged with people who are blind to ensure the scheme is usable in this way. We will, though, continue to work with all disability groups to ensure the scheme adapts and works for everybody in respect of best practice, in the same way it does in the other 40 countries in the world in which this technology has already been deployed.
