Retrofit scheme improvements
Senator Daly welcomes changes to retrofit supports, especially the decoupling of doors and windows, which will make upgrades easier.
I welcome the announcement yesterday by my party colleague the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on the improvements to the retrofitting schemes, in particular the decoupling of doors and windows. This makes it so much easier for somebody to get Government aid to upgrade their doors and windows, to upgrade their entire house or to do a deep retrofit on a phased basis. There was no support for doors or windows before unless they were doing the overall package, which was not feasible for everybody to do. This is a very welcome and successful scheme. It is possibly a victim of its own success. I would like the Minister to come in to go through his new proposals with us, but also to include in that discussion the waiting times within the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, when somebody decides to avail of these grants. I have been working for somebody, a very needy case, and I am still hearing back that the approximate wait time for a survey is 14 months and for the works to be completed is 24 to 26 months. The BER inspection can take two to three months after the completion of work. That is nigh on three years from beginning to end. While I accept and appreciate the reasoning behind it, decisions are based on the BER rating of the house as opposed to the health of the resident. In some cases it is vital that we would prioritise some of the work on some houses, in the interest of the health and well-being of the residents if they have certain illnesses or ailments affected by damp, cold and so on. Maybe we should be looking at that. Without pre-empting the debate, I ask the Cathaoirleach to ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come here to go through his new proposals and to discuss the current performance and waiting times of the SEAI in those grants and retrofitting processes.