Timmy Dooley
Question:2248. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to expand schemes for deep retrofits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33108/19]
View answerTuesday, 23 July 2019
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The Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme was set up to investigate the challenges and opportunities associated with providing deeper retrofits to the residential sector. The Scheme is providing vital, on the ground, evidence of how to overcome the technical and economic challenge of deep retrofit, especially the practical advice and support a householder needs to undertake it. This will help homes achieve an A3 building rating by incorporating works such as insulation, ventilation, window replacement and renewable heating technologies. The results will provide insights into the potential costs of upgrading the building stock, as a greater range of building archetypes are upgraded under the scheme. I recently launched the Government's Climate Action Plan setting highly ambitious targets of 500,000 retrofits as well as the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes. The lessons learned from the Deep Retrofit Pilot will be of great assistance in designing the policies and approaches required to deliver this target.
Decisions in relation to the 2020 budget allocation for all SEAI energy efficiency schemes will be made as part of the annual Estimates process later this year.