Energy body has €700m budget to carry out retrofitting works

Over 4,000 homes were upgraded under the SEAI energy poverty schemes last year.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has said it will be recruiting a network of contractors to retrofit homes as part of its energy poverty programmes nationwide, with a budget of €700m to carry out these works.

This funding for energy-efficiency improvements in homes for those in receipt of certain welfare payments will make their homes “more comfortable, healthier and cost-effective to run,” the SEAI said.

However, the recruitment plan comes amid a recent warning to Government that as many as 50,000 new workers are needed within the industry to deliver on State targets in relation to housing and retrofitting through to 2030.

“The number of new entrants required for professional, technical and craft qualifications presents the greatest challenge because it takes a number of years to obtain such qualifications,” the report commissioned by Solas and the Department of Further Education said.

While other qualifications can be obtained quicker, providing upskilling courses to such relatively large numbers of people would require a significant increase in the current capacity of the vocational training system.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

First announced in February 2022, the Government said it earmarked just under 60% of its €352m annual retrofitting budget on dedicated energy poverty schemes and local authority retrofits. 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Over 4,000 homes were upgraded under SEAI energy poverty schemes last year.

Under these programmes, upgrades such as internal, cavity and external wall insulation, window replacements and heating systems including heat pump and renewable technologies are available.

The SEAI said it will be holding workshops in relation to this tender for new contractors in a number of venues in 2023.

While its estimated total budget is approximately €700m over the maximum four-year contract term, this will be “subject to the annual government estimates and budgetary process in each of the years in question which are subject to change”.

Skills challenge

The recent Government report noted: “Providing a sufficient number of new entrants in the craft skills poses the most serious challenge.

“This is because the requirement — at just over 30,000 new entrants — is much greater than the requirement for the other skills, and the combination of the pandemic and low growth in new housing prior to 2018, has had an adverse impact on the numbers of apprentices registering, and qualifying as craft workers.” 

Trade union Connect, which has over 40,000 members, has called on the Government to create a semi-state retrofitting company to help meet the “historic task” before it.

General secretary Paddy Kavanagh said the challenge of meeting Government targets to help reduce climate emissions is "massive". 

“Such a semi-state would need to have a long-term mindset," he said. "This would include working to develop the range and number of apprenticeships necessary for its operation.

"An available workforce is already there, with workers in enterprises such as Bord na Mona available to be reskilled and redeployed as part of a genuine Just Transition for workers.”