Departmental Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this issue today. The climate action plan includes targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a building energy rating, BER, of B2, cost optimal, and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of this decade. The national retrofit plan sets out the Government's approach to achieving those targets. The programme for Government 2025 contains a number of commitments in relation to retrofitting. They include delivering more B2 equivalent home retrofits each year from 2026 to 2030, with a focus on lower-income households, improving the provision of grants and financing models for home owners, including older people who wish to retrofit, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing costs, as well as supporting group retrofitting projects.
The warmer homes scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people at risk of energy poverty by providing fully funded retrofits. The scheme is operated by the SEAI on behalf of the Department and is funded through carbon tax receipts and the European Regional Development fund, ERDF Last year saw a record spend of almost €230 million under the scheme.
As reported by the SEAI, this resulted in 7,743 upgrades being provided to lower-income households. This year's budget includes an allocation of €250 million for the scheme, which is a €50 million increase. That represents an elevenfold increase on the 2020 expenditure figure.
The scheme has been delivering a greater number of deeper and more complex upgrades in recent years, and this is reflected in the average cost of upgrades, which the SEAI indicates has increased from €2,600 in 2015 to over €29,000 this year. These deeper upgrades mean that more lower-income households are benefiting significantly from warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes with lower energy bills and reduced emissions.
With regard to waiting times, which I know are key to the point the Deputy is making, increased awareness of the multiple benefits of retrofit and improvement to the warmer homes scheme is driving increased levels of demand for the scheme, with just over 45,000 applications received over the period from January 2022 to the end of October 2025. Over the same period, more than 24,500 homes have been upgraded under the scheme. We had 45,000 applications and in the same period, 24,500 homes were upgraded.
For homes that have been allocated to a contractor for works under the scheme so far this year, the average waiting time was just under 15 months. Once a home is allocated to a contractor, the completion times can vary based on the types of works being undertaken at a home and the lead time for ordering and delivery of materials and products, such as windows, are factors. Homeowner availability for upgrades in their homes can also be a factor. The average waiting time from application to completion of upgrade works to date in 2025 has been 21 months for the worst performing homes and 22 months for better performing homes. It is important to note that these averages represent a significant reduction since the first half of 2022, when the average waiting time was 27.5 months.
The reduction in waiting times follows a range of measures introduced by the Department and the SEAI, including the allocation of additional staff to the warmer homes scheme, a significantly increased budget allocation and active contract engagement with management by the SEAI to increase contractor output, as well as actions to address ongoing supply chain pressures. A pilot delivering additional homes from the warmer homes scheme waiting list under the energy efficiency obligation scheme was introduced last year.
Importantly, the SEAI launched on 8 December a procurement process to establish a new €1.2 billion contractor panel to be in place by quarter 2 next year. This will support continued growth, with a focus on scale, quality and output under the scheme. Department officials continue to work with the SEAI to further accelerate and maximise the output of fully funded energy upgrades with the objective of minimising wait times.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10