Written Answers Nos. 171-187
171. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the total funding provided to the Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme to date; the amount that has been drawn down to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10540/22]
View answerThe COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme which makes up to €2 billion in lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps has been operating since September 2020. Up to the end of January 2022, loans with a value of €640.8 million have been drawn or approved by 9,186 businesses. Loans up to €1 million are available for terms up to 5.5 years. Loans under €250,000 do not require any personal guarantees or collateral. Businesses which have been most impacted by the effects of COVID-19 are drawing the most loans; the wholesale and retail sector, the accommodation and food services sector, the construction sector and the primary agriculture and fisheries sector account for 58% of all loans drawn under the scheme.
Loans under the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme are financed by providers using their own resources. Schemes operating under the Credit Guarantee Act, which includes the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, are based on contingent liability. This means that there is no cost to the State unless a business is unable to pay back the loan for more than 90 days, whereupon the finance provider can call on the guarantee for 80% of the outstanding balance. The amount paid to finance providers in respect of calls under the guarantee was €252,346 at the end of January 2022.
On 19 March 2020, the European Commission adopted a Temporary Framework to enable Member States to use the full flexibility foreseen under State aid rules to support the economy and help overcome the extremely difficult situation triggered by the Coronavirus outbreak. The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme has been developed in accordance with the European Commission’s State Aid Temporary Framework and has been extended three times since September 2020 on each occasion the European Commission extended the Temporary Framework provisions. The last extension was in December 2021 and makes the scheme available until 30 June 2022. Any extension of the scheme beyond that point is dependent on a further extension of the Temporary Framework by the European Commission. I would therefore encourage businesses to avail of these low-cost loans in the remaining time of the scheme, which can be used for both working capital and investment purposes.
172. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of engagements, including online meetings, webinars, briefings and in-person meetings he or officials from his Department have had with the National Women’s Council of Ireland from 1 January 2019 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10574/22]
View answerOfficials from my Department met with a representative of the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) on 22nd July 2021 to discuss the work of the Balance for Better Business group.
On the 13th January 2022, I and officials from my Department had a virtual meeting with the NWCI and discussed the issue of legislative quotas for gender balance on boards and the work of the all-island women's forum.
173. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the process his Department will put in place once the decision is made relating to joint labour committee recommendations regarding pay and conditions in the early learning and school age care sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10604/22]
View answerIf the Labour Court receive proposals from the Early Years’ Joint Labour Committee (JLC) for the adoption of proposals for an Employment Regulation Order (ERO) they will examine the proposals and the report of the Chairman of the JLC submitted to it in accordance with the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 at Section 42B(12)(d). The Labour Court may, as it thinks proper, adopt the proposal, amend the proposal, or refuse to adopt the proposal.
Should the Labour Court adopt the proposal, it shall submit it to the Minister for his consideration. It is then a matter for the Minister, should he be satisfied that the required legal steps have been adhered to and considers it appropriate to do so, to make an order - known as an Employment Regulation Order - giving statutory effect to such proposal.
174. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will address concerns raised within the report from the advisory Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, specifically the finding that in terms of retrofit scenarios for the domestic residential sectors use of heat pump installations and domestic solar PV installations there would have to be a significant ramp-up of activity between 2021 and 2024, before needing to hit an annual peak of 56,000 retrofits, 43,000 heat pump installations and 28,000 domestic solar PV installations between 2025 and 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10536/22]
View answerMy Department actively participated on the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs steering group which produced the ‘Skills for Zero Carbon” report. The report provides a valuable market analysis on the nature and quantity of the skills needed to achieve our national retrofit targets as outlined in the Climate Action Plan and National Retrofit Plan. Building up capacity in the retrofit sector from current levels to a point where it can deliver on our national targets will require the right funding and initiatives to stimulate and support the market to invest and attract new entrants.
The National Retrofit Plan, published last November, has already provided certainty to the sector in terms of the unprecedented commitment by Government to support residential and community retrofit over the next decade. The budget of €8 billion to the end of the decade and annual allocations published in the National Retrofit Plan, gives confidence to the sector to grow, take on staff, invest and innovate. The new SEAI grant schemes and expansion of the Local Authority Retrofit Programme allow year-round working as compared to the stop-start programme previously in place, which held the sector back.
New and expanding businesses in the retrofit sector can face challenges as they develop and expand. Therefore, SEAI will work with these businesses to encourage them to avail of the range of supports available through the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), which include financial supports, training programmes and mentoring.
Expanding the retrofit workforce will also be key. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs report indicates that we need to increase the number of full time equivalent workers from 4,000 to 17,000 by the middle of the decade. Funding and operational certainty is a key step here. Furthermore, my colleague the Minister for Further and Higher Education has provided €17 million to increase the number of retrofit and NZEB places to 4,550 this year. Minister Harris is also supporting two retrofit centres of excellence with three more to be in place later this year.
175. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the extent to which the discussions and deliberations at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference fall within Ireland’s carbon reduction targets; and if an equitable coexistence can emerge with obvious benefits for Ireland’s economy. [7800/22]
View answerThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides the framework for addressing climate change. The UNFCCC 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) delivered positively on a number of important matters, including strengthened efforts to build resilience to climate change, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to provide the necessary finance for both. The overarching COP26 decision, the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’, signifies that the goals of the Paris Agreement can still be met and commits all Parties to accelerate action on climate this decade. Ireland is a Party to this agreement and engages in negotiations through its membership of the EU.
Climate change, as a trans-boundary challenge, can only be addressed through committed ambition and effective multilateral cooperation at the international level. The EU has earned a leadership role on climate matters and continues to advance with comprehensive and ambitious climate policy, including committing to a more ambitious target to reduce its emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (relative to 1990 levels) and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Ireland has fully supported the increased EU ambition and recognises the central role that the EU has played in helping to drive the climate action agenda forward in a way that seeks to balance cost-effectiveness, fairness and solidarity across Member States. Ireland continues to support EU policy in this area. Furthermore, Ireland’s increased targets set out in our Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 are consistent with this EU ambition, and are consistent with an appropriate contribution by the State to global efforts to limit climate change to well below 2 Degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees Celsius as articulated in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.
The Climate Act sets Ireland on a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050, and to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. It also establishes a significantly strengthened legally binding framework with clear commitments set in law and ensures the necessary structures and processes are embedded on a statutory basis, so that Ireland achieves its national, EU and international climate goals in the near and long-term.
176. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will amend the warmer homes scheme to include carers benefit as an eligible payment given that a report (details supplied) estimates that households with a disabled person have an additional average spend of €9,027 per annum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10529/22]
View answerThe Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme delivers free energy upgrades for eligible homeowners at risk of energy poverty. Since 2000, over 143,000 free upgrades have been supported by the SEAI administered scheme. Last year, 2,126 upgrades were delivered under the scheme and the average cost of the energy efficiency measures provided per household was €17,100.
The scheme aims to prioritise lower income households who are living in the worst performing homes. Eligible households must be in receipt of certain Department of Social Protection payments. These are mainly means tested payments such as the Fuel Allowance.
Eligibility has been extended in recent years to include more groups who are at risk of poverty and deprivation, such as unemployed households with young children, single parent families and people with disabilities.
The scheme is available to the following groups:
- Fuel Allowance as part of the National Fuel Scheme.
- Job Seekers Allowance for over six months and have a child under seven years of age
- Working Family Payment
- One-Parent Family Payment
- Domiciliary Care Allowance
- Carers Allowance and live with the person you are caring for
- Disability Allowance for over six months and have a child under seven years of age
I understand that households where a person is in receipt of the Carer’s Benefit may also meet the criteria for receipt of the Fuel Allowance. Applicants can confirm whether they are eligible for the Fuel Allowance by contacting the Department of Social Protection.
Other SEAI supports are available to all homeowners whose homes meet the eligibility criteria including:
- Increased grants covering up to 50% of the cost of a whole home upgrade under the National Home Energy Upgrade scheme;
- Increased grants for certain measures under the Better Energy Homes Scheme, for people taking a step by step or self managed approach to upgrades; and,
- A special enhanced grant rate, equivalent to 80% of the typical cost, for attic and cavity wall insulation to urgently reduce energy use and cost as part of the Government’s response to current exceptionally high energy prices.
177. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if grants or financial supports are available from his Department for companies that wish to purchase machinery for recycling plastic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10532/22]
View answerMy Department does not provide grants or financial supports of the kind referred to in the Question. However, to support the implementation of the proximity principle, the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy outlines Government policy to create a regulatory and policy context to support the delivery of indigenous treatment capacity.
178. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the steps being taken by him and his Department towards the implementation of new domestic solid fuel standards following his announcement on 7 September 2021; if a detailed timeline for implementation will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10548/22]
View answer187. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the position on banning smoky coal fuel; and if provisions will be made for exemptions for certain vintage machinery such as locomotive engines and tractors. [10740/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 178 and 187 together.
Each year, some 1,300 people die prematurely in Ireland due to air pollution from solid fuel burning. It is estimated that there are over 16,200 life years lost, while many people also experience a poor quality of life due to the associated short, and long-term, health impacts of this form of pollution. I remain committed to addressing this critical public health and environmental challenge through the introduction of New Solid Fuel Regulations for Ireland.
The Regulations are now drafted and will be progressing through the EU Technical Regulation Information System as required in the coming weeks. The regulations will introduce minimum standards for all solid fuels placed on the market in Ireland. These new standards have been outlined since September 2021 when I announced that they would be in place by September 2022.
Introducing these standards will improve the quality of the air that we breathe, and the health of the public.
In relation to vintage machinery, the regulations apply to solid fuels that are placed on the market for residential heating, and should not impact on fuels supplied for the purposes of powering vintage machinery such as the examples given by the Deputy. The Department will work with key vintage engine stakeholders to develop guidance on this in advance of the introduction of the regulations.
179. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if clarity will be provided in relation to the one-stop shop retrofitting grant; if the grant will be awarded if the final result of the retrofitting work does not meet the minimum BER B2 rating; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10554/22]
View answerThe new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme offers increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost of a typical B2 home energy upgrade with a heat pump (up from the current level of 30-35%).
The scheme introduces a new way to undertake home energy upgrades with One-Stop-Shops providing an end-to-end service for homeowners. This includes surveying the home; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; engaging contractors to deliver the work; and quality assuring the work.
Homes, built and occupied pre-2011, and owned by private homeowners, non-corporate landlords and Approved Housing Bodies are eligible for the scheme. Eligibility for grant support under the scheme, requires homes to reach a post works BER rating of B2 or better and deliver a minimum primary energy uplift of at least 100 kWh/m2/year.
However, in addition to the establishment of the new scheme, Government has also made clear that it is important that households that want or need to carry out the upgrade over time, should be supported at the enhanced grant levels. For that reason, many of the new grant rates are also now available under the Better Energy Homes Scheme allowing homeowners to take a step-by-step approach or self-manage the project.
Overall, the fully funded upgrades under the Warmer Homes Scheme, the Local Authority Retrofit Programme and the foregoing measures provide an unprecedented opportunity for people all over Ireland to upgrade to a warmer, healthier and more comfortable home, with lower energy bills.
180. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the estimated price of oil on which his Department is basing its future energy projections in terms of energy security; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10558/22]
View answerIn relation to oil security, the National Oil Reserve Agency (NORA) has responsibility for maintaining transport fuel security in Ireland. As a member of both the European Union and the International Energy Agency, Ireland maintains a 90 day fuel security reserve, the vast bulk of which is held physically at different regional locations on the island of Ireland. NORA provide monthly updates to the Department on the amount of stock held to show that it is meeting the 90 day requirement.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) carry out energy modelling on behalf of my Department. The prices used for energy modelling by the SEAI is mainly the EU oil reference price, which projects oil prices at just under US$100 per barrel in 2030. Other oil price references include the UK Department of Business oil prices, which are low case US$50 per barrel by 2030 and mid case US$80 per barrel by 2030.
Separately, my Department is carrying out a review of security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems focussing on the period to 2030 in the context of ensuring a sustainable pathway to net zero emissions by 2050. The review includes a technical analysis which will help inform a public consultation. The technical analysis includes identification and examination of the key risks to the security of supply in the electricity and natural gas systems; identification of options that could address or mitigate these risks in the period to 2030; and appraisal of these options in the context of ensuring a sustainable pathway to 2050. I expect the technical analysis will be published and the public consultation commenced by mid-2022. It is planned to complete the overall review following this consultation, at which point, it will be submitted to Government.
181. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of engagements, including online meetings, webinars, briefings and in-person meetings he or officials from his Department have had with the National Women's Council of Ireland from 1 January 2019 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10575/22]
View answerNeither I nor any of the officials in my Department have had any direct meetings with the National Women’s Council of Ireland in the period from January 2019 to date.
183. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications when the one-stop shops that are part of the recently announced national home retrofit scheme will be up and running; the proposals that are in place for County Wexford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10614/22]
View answerThe recently launched National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme introduces a new, highly customer centric, way to undertake home upgrades. SEAI registered One-Stop-Shops will provide an end-to-end service for homeowners. This includes surveying; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; engaging contractors; and quality assurance. The Scheme offers unprecedented grant levels, increased from around 30% to 50% of the cost of a typical B2 home energy upgrade with a heat pump.
It is expected that the One-Stop-Shops will be distributed across Ireland, with a considerable number offering services nationwide through their network of contractors throughout the country. Other One-Stop-Shops will likely work within geographic regions. This will ensure that every home can benefit from the One-Stop-Shop service on offer.
Following Government approval, the SEAI registration portal for companies to apply to be a One-Stop-Shop opened. A number of One-Stop-Shops have already applied and it is expected that following the necessary process the first will be registered in the coming weeks. Homeowners will then be able to make applications for upgrades under the new Scheme.
184. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of a warmer home grant application by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10621/22]
View answerMy Department funds a number of Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant schemes to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.
The administration and management of applications under Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) schemes are an operational matter for the SEAI. As Minister, I have no function with regard to individual grant applications.
SEAI has established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members so that such queries can be addressed promptly, in line with SEAI’s objective to deliver services to the highest standards. The email address is oireachtas@seai.ie.
185. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the SEAI application submitted by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10625/22]
View answerMy Department funds a number of Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant schemes to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.
The administration and management of applications under Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) schemes are an operational matter for the SEAI. As Minister, I have no function with regard to individual grant applications.
SEAI has established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members so that such queries can be addressed promptly, in line with SEAI’s objective to deliver services to the highest standards. The email address is oireachtas@seai.ie.
186. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the level of engagement he and his Department have had with local authorities in relation to widespread breaches of the Air Pollution Act 1987; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10648/22]
View answerMy Department remains committed to working with the Local Authority sector in developing and resourcing a regional approach to air quality enforcement. Discussions are on-going with the Local Authority sector to establish an appropriate structure to provide co-ordination, expertise and advice to support effective and consistent implementation of air quality legislation across the country.
This process will ensure greater consistency of approach in terms of objectives, decisions, actions, and final environmental outcomes, as well as facilitating co-ordinated, intelligence led enforcement activities with other authorities such as An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners.
Over the past number of months, my Department has intensified its engagement with the County and City Manager Association in order to progress this new enforcement programme which will be supported by a financial provision of €1.2M secured in Budget 2022.
