Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 March 2022
312. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if an application was submitted by Cork City Council for full retrofitting of the entire Churchfield area; and if this was only partially granted. [15850/22]
View answerIn 2021, a newly revised ten year Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) was launched which was designed around the Programme for Government commitment to retrofit 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal BER standard by 2030. It is expected that approximately 36,500 of those homes will be local authority owned homes. The EERP is the programme specifically designed for retrofitting local authority housing stock.
The 2021 Programme saw a significant increase in the maximum grant available per property from €38,900 for mid-terrace and apartment type properties to €45,400 for end of terrace/detached/semi-detached properties. Local authorities were made aware however of the requirement to ensure that the average property cost does not exceed €27,000 in order to ensure that the delivery target was met. This figure is exclusive of project management fees which were recoupable from the Department and provided additional funding of up to €3,000 per dwelling over and above the €27,000 average.
The Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme is grant funded at 100% of costs where local authorities take a pragmatic approach to the selection of properties for retrofitting and the design specification applied and operate within the limits of the line item caps as outlined in Circular 8/2021.
As part of the 2021 process Cork City Council were provided a target of 123 properties for retrofitting. It is the responsibility of the local authority to choose the properties to be retrofitted based on their targets. Local authorities were urged to choose a mix of properties, requiring varying levels of retrofit, when setting out their works programme. Properties in the Churchfield area were selected and submitted to the Department for consideration as part of their 2021 energy efficiency programme and these were approved by my Department. Unfortunately Cork City Council did not complete work on the targeted properties in 2021. I understand that Cork City Council has tendered for and selected a supplier for 110 of the 123 properties approved under the 2021 programme and these will be re-approved under the 2022 programme.
Budget 2022 has provided a significantly increased budget of €85 million for the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme this year which will allow for 2,400 local authority homes to be targeted for upgrade to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 or cost optimal equivalent level.
