124. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware of the issue around legacy ghost estates now being reactivated, where the building work was completed long before December 2020, but where an MRPN only issued subsequently, resulting in people being locked out of grants available for the installation of solar panels; if his Department has any plans to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42627/24]

The Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) provides capital grants through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for solar PV installations, in the form of the Domestic Solar PV and Non-Domestic Microgeneration schemes. Micro-generation has an important role in creating opportunities for homes, schools, community groups and small commercial customers to take the first steps towards investment in renewable technologies, by generating and consuming their own electricity.

The eligibility criteria for the Domestic Solar PV scheme are based on the MSS high level design approved by Government in December 2021, with the Final Scheme Design published in 2022. Grants are administered by the SEAI and are available to houses built and occupied prior to 2021. In order to avoid confusion with the term built and occupied, SEAI use the date of connection to the electricity grid via the MPRN details; as the method of determining eligibility; in line with other SEAI support schemes.

The current scheme came into operation in February 2022 and built on the success of the previous pilot version of the grant scheme. As part of the transition between schemes and in order to increase access to the new scheme; the eligibility criteria was changed from those houses built prior to 2011, to those built prior to 2021.

Targeting the grant scheme at older homes, maximizes emissions reductions and delivers energy savings for the widest range of homeowners possible, whilst also making the most efficient use of limited exchequer funding for the scheme. There are no plans to change the building year requirement at this stage but grant eligibility will be kept under review, and changes to the scheme will be made when necessary.