Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 November 2023
31. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications how he plans to increase uptake on SEAI residential schemes by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50225/23]
View answerThe National Retrofit Plan sets out the Government's approach to achieving the Climate Action Plan targets of upgrading the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2/cost optimal level and installing 400,000 heat pumps to replace older, less efficient heating systems by 2030.
The Plan is designed to address barriers to retrofit across four key pillars: driving demand and activity; financing and funding; supply chain, skills and standards; and governance. Actions under the Plan are updated on an annual basis.
A range of actions have already been implemented under the Plan and we are seeing strong progress in delivery as a result. In 2021, SEAI supported over 15,000 home energy upgrades. In 2022, delivery was over 27,000 upgrades. Almost 39,000 home energy upgrades have been supported through SEAI schemes to the end of October of this year. This is an increase of 112% on the same period of last year and above the overall target of 37,000 home energy upgrades for 2023. SEAI is ramping up towards delivering an average 75,000 homes per year for the second half of the decade.
Record capital allocations to SEAI and the funding commitments for the rest of the decade in the National Retrofit Plan (€8 billion Exchequer commitment - including €5 billion in carbon tax revenues in the NDP) will add more confidence especially for the supply chain. This will help the sector to grow in a measured and sustainable way to meet our ambitious targets.
