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Warmer Homes Scheme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020

Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Questions (98)

Seán Canney

Question:

98. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications his views on the warmer homes scheme and its effectiveness in view of the fact there is a two-year delay in Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, inspectors visiting homes approved by the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35282/20]

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Oral answers (9 contributions)

My question also relates to the warmer homes scheme and its effectiveness. In view of the fact there is a two-year delay in SEAI inspectors visiting homes, never mind getting the work carried out, I would like more insight as to how we will deal with this. As the Minister says, construction is an essential service and I do not see why the delays are not being dealt with. All I hear is that in my constituency there is a two-year waiting list for an inspector to come out.

The SEAI better energy warmer homes scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households vulnerable to energy poverty. To date, more than 142,000 households have received free upgrades under the scheme, making their homes warmer, healthier and cheaper to run. The value of works carried out under the scheme now ranges between €5,800 and €28,500 per home, depending on the starting condition of the property and suitability for the measures available.

Eligible homes are allocated for initial survey on a first come, first served basis, and as the Deputy has said, the average time between application and survey is now 21 months. This wait time is a result of strong demand for what is an extremely popular scheme. There are currently more than 7,000 homes at various stages of the scheme work programme.

The SEAI originally estimated that works would be completed in approximately 3,500 homes under the scheme this year. Delivery has however been negatively impacted by Covid, particularly between March and June when the scheme was fully paused in line with Government guidelines. In line with the wider construction sector, retrofit works are continuing, subject to a full risk assessment and compliance with all available guidelines. Activity under this scheme is now expected be closer to 1,500 homes this year.

Budget 2021 provides €109 million in capital funding to support lower income households to retrofit their homes. This is the largest budget ever for this purpose. It is expected that this funding will support free energy efficiency upgrades for up to 5,800 lower income households, in line with the programme for Government. Capacity by the industry to deliver increased activity will also be increased due to a new, broader contractor panel to provide works commencing this month. Recommendations on the implementation of changes to the scheme to better target those most in need will be finalised shortly.

I thank the Minister for the reply. The answers I receive from the SEAI are that it takes up to 24 months. We also have a situation whereby people have an expectation but are being told they have to wait two years for the inspection. There seems to be a huge amount hinged on the fact that all of this has to be carried out by the SEAI. I cannot understand why local authorities are not being used. They administer the housing adaption grants and the mobility aid grants. Why can this not be administered at that level? We have also created more bureaucracy because the SEAI has to approve the contractors, when most contractors doing this work are already approved in one way or another and can certify their own works. It would make for greater efficiency and greater speed in getting the works done. I ask the Minister to consider reviewing all of this in light of the fact there is huge demand and there is a budget. How much of the budget will not be spent this year and will be carried over?

I do not have the figure but I will ask the Department to come back to the Deputy directly on this. As I said, there will be significant carryover on this, as in other areas. A lot of this is because in the first Covid phase between March and June, the construction sector by and large, like the rest of the economy, was shut down. We still have ongoing issues in terms of building up the contractors' capability and capacity to deliver a lot of this work. The Government has been adopting the right approach in that in the budget the Minister, Deputy Harris, indicated significant investment with up to 1,500 apprenticeship places specifically in the area of retrofitting. Previously it used to be bedevilled by stop-start contract arrangements whereby contractors would have to wait until early in the new year to know when they would get work for that year. They then had a short window during the summer when they did the work and they stopped again in the autumn. What we did in the July stimulus this year was change the rules so we can run 12 months of the year and right the way around.

I am delighted to hear some movement has been made to try to streamline the whole process. It will be a pity if we do not take the issue on board with regard to the panels we create for the SEAI-approved contractors list. It is something I notice in my own area. Not many contractors are on the list because they are not interested in it. We have to make it more attractive for the local contractors to get involved. I was looking on the website today and I think I would have to go to Mayo to get a contractor for Galway. I wonder why this is. It is also very cumbersome for people to try to find a contractor on the list. There is a little bit of shaping up to be done in terms of making sure we deliver the benefits. We have the money, and if there is a budget carryover for next year, we want to be able to increase the capacity. I know the Minister is doing this but we need to increase it further and perhaps keep an eye on how the funding is being spent and how quickly it is being spent. The Minister is right that we cannot have a stop-go attitude.

There is a lot of shaping up to be done. In truth, any underspend this year has been spent on our obligations regarding the European Union renewable heat targets, which we did not meet. We have had to buy our way out of that obligation. I would far prefer that we had spent the money on putting in new energy efficient homes with heat pumps so we would meet our renewable heat targets. There is a huge amount of shaping up to do.

The Deputy is right with regard to the contractors. Perhaps a lot of contractors looked at this in the past and thought it was too small, too stop-start and too uncertain. Now they know that for the next ten years by law the carbon revenues we will get from the carbon tax will be allocated. This will be some €5.5 billion for the retrofitting industry. This is only one of the revenue streams we will need. We will have a variety of schemes and revenue sources, including private financing, that will make this a €50 billion industry in the next two decades.

Thank you, Minister.

Any contractor who is thinking forward, and they are doing so, will see this is an area they need-----

The time is up. Thank you, Minister.

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