Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021
63. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount of funding in budget 2021 which has been set aside for the establishment and resourcing of the national retrofit delivery office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5490/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Programme for Government and the Climate Acton Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 or cost optimal and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings during this decade. To assist with the achievement of these targets, €221.5 million in capital funding is being provided this year through my Department’s Vote to the SEAI for residential and community retrofit schemes. This is an increase of €100 million on the previous year and represents an 82% increase on the 2020 allocation. Of this amount, €109 million will support free upgrades for lower income households with €112.5 million to be spent on expanding other existing SEAI grant schemes and introducing new and initiatives. It is essential that appropriate structures and governance arrangements are put in place to help us meet our retrofit targets. For that reason, a further key recent development was the designation of the SEAI as the National Retrofit Delivery Office.
The details of the funding allocation to the SEAI for 2021 were published in December in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV). The resource allocation to the SEAI for Administration and General Expenses has been increased this year to €18.4 million, an increase of approximately 45% on last year. This is to support the agency in increasing its capacity, especially to drive delivery of our national retrofit targets, including the new National Retrofit Delivery function. This process will entail some restructuring within SEAI as well as the expansion of staffing resources both of which are currently underway.
