€37.5bn bill to make homes energy efficient

Ireland’s housing stock is in such an “appalling” condition that it would cost between €27bn-€37.5bn to properly retrofit the homes to an “acceptable” level of energy efficiency, an expert has warned.

Prof Brendan Halligan, chairman of the Institute of International and European Affairs and of the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, said the country needed to retrofit 150,000 houses a year for the next 10 years to meet its sustainable energy targets.

Speaking at the Energy Action conference on fuel poverty (the inability to afford to heat one’s home), he said he did not see the need for any further analysis of the problem as the causes of fuel poverty were known, as were the solutions.