Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 June 2023
83. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount funding that is available to Dublin City Council for the energy efficiency retrofit programme; and if he has any plans to increase this funding to meet climate action plans. [31399/23]
View answerSince 2013, Exchequer funding has been provided through my Department's Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) to support local authorities with the retrofit of local authority owned homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Over the period 2013-2022, Dublin City Council received almost €39 million in funding to carry out energy upgrade works on 10,448 properties.
In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the Energy Efficient Retrofit Programme (EERP), 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 (BER)/Cost Optimal Equivalent 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.
An annualised breakdown of the funding and number of properties completed by each LA since 2013 is available at the following link:
gov.ie - Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme - Expenditure & Output (www.gov.ie)
Local authorities have been notified of their targets and available funding for the 2023 EERP, which has been increasing year on year, in line with the ambition to achieve 36,500 retrofitted local authority owned homes out to 2030. To that end, Dublin City Council have been allocated almost €12.3 million, which includes project management funding, for the retrofit of 340 units this year. Furthermore where local authorities can retrofit additional dwellings this year, above their initial target, my Department will make every effort to accede to additional funding requests for this important work.
