Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
138. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the national retrofitting scheme and the plan to designate a national retrofitting delivery body by the end of 2020 as outlined in the programme for Government. [35000/20]
View answer142. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications his plans for changes to the various SEAI schemes and grants available to private homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34999/20]
View answerI propose to take Question Nos. 138 and 142 together.
The Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2/cost optimal and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next 10 years.
The development of a new retrofit plan to achieve these targets is well underway. Budget 2021 provided €221.5 million in capital funding for SEAI residential and community retrofit programmes. This represents an 82% increase on the 2020 allocation and is the largest amount ever for the schemes. This allocation will kick-start the first phase of our retrofit plan.
Of this amount, €109 million is allocated to provide free upgrades for lower income households. This is a €47 million increase on the 2020 allocation. €112.5 million will be spent on expanding other existing SEAI grant schemes and introducing new and improved ones. The first of the new schemes was launched in September when a call for projects under the new National Retrofit (One-Stop-Shop Development) scheme issued. A call for projects under the Communities Energy Grant scheme is imminent. Other initiatives to be funded in 2021 include a new National Retrofit scheme focused on achieving B2 retrofits; a heat-pump ready homes scheme; and a new Community Activation scheme.
Another key aspect of phase 1 of the retrofit programme was the recently announced establishment of the National Retrofit Office in the SEAI with additional resources to drive delivery of our retrofit targets.
It is intended to align the delivery of the Phase 2 of the Retrofit Plan with the review of the National Development Plan.
