Thomas Gould
Question:737. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the 100 homes due for retrofitting in Churchfield, Cork and the addresses of these homes. [16746/23]
View answerTuesday, 18 April 2023
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My Department launched the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme (EERP) in 2013 with the aim of funding retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013 to the end of 2022, over 77,500 local authority social housing dwellings have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of over €251 million.
In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the programme, designed around the Programme for Government's commitment led by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications that calls for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent (BER) standard by 2030, of which, approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes, with grant funding provided by my Department for those local authority housing retrofits.
Works eligible under my Department's revised EERP include attic/cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation where required, windows and doors replacement, heat pump installation and ancillary and associated works. Works are typically carried out in this order. The installation of gas/oil boilers or solid fuel/inset stoves including wood pellet stoves are not supported by the Department under the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme.
The 2023 EERP budget provides an increase in funding support from €85 million allocated in 2022 to €87 million in 2023 with details of this year’s programme including funding allocations on a per county basis being finalised.
The selection of properties to be retrofitted through funding available from the EERP and included in this year’s programme is a matter for each individual local authority. Consequently, information in relation to the properties to be put forward for inclusion in this year’s programme should be requested directly from the relevant local authority.