Fuel Poverty Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 17 together. 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 to households in receipt of certain Department of Social Protection income supports. I am pleased to say delivery under the scheme has ramped up hugely in recent years. Just over 3,000 homes were upgraded in 2019, compared with 8,100 last year, or 109% of what we had targeted. Between 2019 and August of this year, we did 39,500 fully funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty. Budget 2026 provided €340 million for warmer homes, with a target to complete 11,500 homes this year. We must also remember the scheme has developed over time and it is delivering deeper upgrades that take longer to complete. The average cost per home under the scheme in the first half of 2026 was €28,500. It is a significant investment, and rightly so. In addition, under the national retrofit plan, a new, higher fixed-amount grant for attic insulation and cavity wall insulation was introduced for homeowners who are qualifying social protection payment recipients. That allows qualifying homeowners at risk of energy poverty to get these works done using SEAI-registered grant contractors on a shorter timeline. Eligible applicants can keep their place on the warmers homes scheme list. That is a change the Deputy looked for, which we were happy to make. The success of the scheme has meant a serious increase in applications, with over 10,800 this year, up 52% on last year. A waiting list action plan is being developed. I met the SEAI only last week about this. The SEAI is also engaging with contractors to increase their output. Under the warmer homes scheme, upgrades recommended by the SEAI technical surveyor will depend on many factors including age, size and the type and condition of the property. Heating system upgrades, which the Deputy specifically asked about, can be recommended under the scheme in certain cases where the home is being insulated under the scheme and statutory major renovation obligations are triggered. Where more than 25% of the area of the walls is being externally or internally insulated, the existing heating system must be appraised for replacement. People with existing boilers, because of EU regulations in place in Ireland under the energy performance of buildings directive, cannot receive a grant to replace it with another fossil fuel boiler. I am looking at measures on that in advance of the budget. The warmer homes scheme is great and we are seeing turnaround times between application and completion of works reduce. I will have an update on that in the next couple of weeks. The number of homes done through the scheme has increased year on year. It will be close to 11,500 this year. I do not have the projections for the end of the year but it will be an increase on last year. On what we can do to help people with boilers that are coming to end of life, I am working on that in advance of the budget. --- 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/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17