Departmental Schemes Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-30 ============================================================ Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare I thank Senator Scahill for raising what I believe it is a very important issue. As he has rightly identified, the solar PV for the medically vulnerable scheme is a targeted scheme for the installation, as he has identified, of solar photovoltaic panels for household customers who have registered on the life support category of the priority services register. These are homes that have a dependence on electrically powered equipment, including medical equipment, life-protecting devices and assistive technology. Examples include requiring dialysis machines, which we are all familiar with, or respirators. As such, these households may have a higher energy demand then the average user. The scheme is designed to go some way towards helping to reduce their energy costs but Senator Scahill has identified an equally important component, which is that it provides electricity when the grid in particular isolated areas is impacted through storms or other interruptions. The scheme provides a fully funded 2 kW solar PV system for eligible households. This includes the survey, design, supply, installation and post works on the building energy rating. Senator Scahill is wondering about the progress to date. The scheme was launched in 2022, with an overall budget of approximately €20 million. The SEAI reports that 137 systems were installed in 2024 at a cost of almost €1.8 million. Last year about 473 systems were installed, with expenditure of about €2.4 million. We are ramping it up slowly. This year we will see a major expansion of delivery, with an allocation of €11.7 million. This is expected to deliver about 1,900 homes. To date in 2026 about €1.17 million has been spent, with 171 homes installed and a further 60 in the process of being completed. This shows that the pace of the deployment is ramping up. Senator Scahill is raising the scheme and I hope that other Senators and Members of the Parliament will generally recognise the scheme. It is not necessarily widely known about. There are a lot of schemes that are oversubscribed but this one is not. We all know vulnerable users and we often use social media to promote certain schemes. This is one where all of us collectively could do a little bit more, considering specifically that the money is available. Initially the scheme was limited to individuals who were on the life support category of the priority services register in 2022, when the scheme was launched, but due to the strong uptake and positive impact already observed the scheme is now in the process of being extended to include all homeowners who are registered on the life support category regardless of when they were registered. Customers are registered by their supplier and we are pushing the suppliers to do this. Most energy suppliers have agreed to participate in the scheme, with some suppliers more advanced in their programmes than others. Each energy supplier will have their own arrangement with the SEAI on which they proceed with the installation of this, and it is dependent on the capacity of the suppliers' individual solar PV installers and, of course, the location because this adds to the burden. The scheme is wholly managed by the registered energy suppliers, with each of the suppliers contacting their own eligible customers directly, in line with the work plans of their solar PV installers. It is important to note that suppliers, who manage the administrative aspects of the scheme under the SEAI, issue offers to eligible homeowners in batches, based on operational capacity. As regards the batch, obviously, the installers get the benefit of the grouping effect. Each participating supplier received an allocated amount of funding under its memorandum of understanding with the SEAI. Once the initial allocation is used, additional funding will be provided to ensure that all eligible households are offered access to the scheme within the budget allocation. Given the importance of the scheme and the fact that the expected spend this year will bring the total close to the overarching financial allocation, it is intended to commence a review of the scheme in 2026, towards budget 2027, and see how we can better advance the good work being done. I thank the Senator for raising the matter. His raising it here will give further ventilation and amplification to a scheme that is very worthwhile. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:53+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-30