Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2019
67. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the mechanisms he is considering to develop private finance models in support of the deep retrofit of residential buildings; and the way in which such financing might be expected to operate with respect to the length of loans, interest rates and so on. [42276/19]
View answerThe Government’s Climate Action Plan sets an ambitious target of 500,000 energy efficiency retrofits by 2030. Achievement of this target will be supported by the the range of measures identified in the Plan as well as the Project Ireland 2040 allocation of €3.7 billion. While this is clearly a substantial level of Government financial support, Exchequer investment alone will not be enough to meet the level of retrofit required. The overall targets could only be achieved by individuals making the decision to play their part in addressing climate change by investing their own money in upgrading their homes.
Actions 53 and 54 of the Climate Action Plan set out the high level steps that will be taken over the next year to identify and develop the appropriate financing schemes to enable people to invest in the energy efficiency of their properties. As mentioned in the Plan, a number of options will be explored including salary incentive schemes, green mortgages, on-bill financing, energy performance contracting, pay as you save schemes and low cost loans.
I recently announced the establishment of a Retrofit Taskforce that will oversee the development of a new national delivery model which will group homes together, create easy pay back mechanisms and develop financing options. Development of the new model will be informed by the experience from existing schemes in Ireland as well as best practice in other jurisdictions. The first meeting of the Taskforce took place on 30 September.
