Energy Conservation
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Paul McAuliffe (FF), Dublin North-West

The Minister of State is right that this scheme has transformed the scheme but because of that decision not to replace a gas boiler, a very expensive heat pump system is being put in place. That is fantastic for those who avail of this but that transforms the scheme itself and the cost of the scheme. It will mean that fewer people will have access to the scheme if those resources are used. There is a question to be asked: where the boiler is not replaced by SEAI, why they cannot just put in the insulation and leave the boiler as it is? People will be in a better and warmer home with the insulation going into their home and leaving the boiler as it is, or leave them to apply for it through a council grant or replacement parts. They are being excluded from the whole scheme because of the single issue of the boiler.
I had a public meeting on this. SEAI provided us with their mentor, a fantastic guy who came out. There is a lot of interest in this scheme, in the solar grants and in all that is available. Given the changes to the European regulations around carbon fuels and the changes to the scheme, it just needs to be tweaked to make sure that a really positive scheme continues to be positive.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18