Eamon Ryan defends retrofitting scheme despite only 89 completed applications

County-by-county breakdown shows that 13 counties have had fewer than 10 approved applications

Minister Eamon Ryan said: “This points to a strong pipeline of works for the coming months under the scheme”. File picture: Julien Behal Photography

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has insisted his failing retrofitting scheme is still working, despite just 89 applications being completed.

Mr Ryan and his officials set a target of 500,000 home upgrades to a BER rating of B2 at least by 2030, or 62,500 a year, but so far only 681 homes have been approved.

Despite being way off target, Mr Ryan said: “This points to a strong pipeline of works for the coming months under the scheme.”

A county-by-county breakdown of the scheme’s working since its launch in February shows that 13 counties have had fewer than 10 approved applications to the Government’s retrofitting scheme, newly released figures reveal.

The breakdown reveals that just 681 homes have so far been approved in the scheme, which pays 50% of the cost of a deep retrofit to raise a house’s BER rating to B2 at least.

The National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, run by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, has concluded and paid for energy upgrade works on just 89 homes.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show that Dublin has had the most applications with 118.

It was followed by Cork with 82; Galway with 72; Cavan with 65; Donegal with 62; Sligo with 59, and Tipperary with 39.

In terms of the approvals, Leitrim failed to record a single application, the figures released by Mr Ryan’s department reveal.

Other counties with fewer than 10 applications are Clare (9); Meath (9); Mayo (8); Louth (7); Longford (6); Offaly (3); Kilkenny (1); Laois (3); Wexford (7); Westmeath (5); Wicklow (8); and Roscommon (5).

Elsewhere in Munster, Kerry has had just 20 applications, while Limerick has had 18 and Waterford has seen 14 applications approved so far.

In Leinster, the take-up has been very poor, particularly in the commuter belt outside Dublin. For example, Meath had just nine applications, Wicklow had eight, and Kildare 11.

In Connacht and Ulster, applications from Donegal totalled 62; Cavan had 65; Sligo 59; Monaghan had 15; Roscommon had just five, and none in Leitrim.

Following Government approval, the SEAI registration portal opened for companies to apply to be a one-stop-shop (OSS).

Mr Ryan had described a 'robust' registration process for this new service. 

“The new scheme is also grounded in robust governance and oversight processes to ensure the OSSs are meeting the necessary customer and quality performance indicators,” he said.

Mr Ryan added there were 12 one-stop-shops registered with the SEAI, which expects to have 15 registered OSSs offering whole house retrofits by the end of this year.

SEAI-registered one-stop-shops provide an end-to-end service for homeowners. This includes surveying; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; engaging contractors; and quality assurance.

Sinn Féin has hit out at the failure of the scheme saying wealthy households can access €25,000 of taxpayer-funded grants for a deep retrofit, irrespective of their income, while the best that most people on lower incomes can hope for is a roll of subsidised attic insulation.

Darren O’Rourke, the party’s energy spokesman, said the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme aimed at the most vulnerable households now has 9,000 people on its waiting list and the wait time has shot up to 27 months.