Retrof it plan must not be just a boon to wealthy
THE pandemic exposed two different Irelands: one that accumulated savings, having nothing to spend its money on, and the other put to the pin of its collar as businesses turned to dust. The same is true of the pandemic’s aftermath. As the rising cost of living promises to cripple households with up to €4,000 extra in bills this year, the Government has been forced to take unprecedented action, with measures ranging from electricity grants to bus fare reductions.
And in a parallel universe, no sooner had the Government announced its €8bn retrofitting plan than the website of the Sustainable Energy Authority almost crashed under the weight of householder interest in everything from having homes assessed to hiring contractors to applying for grants.
A crisis, whether in public health or the cost of living, is never an excuse for putting urgent public projects on the back burner, but it’s a temptation to which governments often succumb.
The retrofit plan will improve the housing stock for generations to come, make homes less costly to run and cut carbon emissions. It’s a win-win for the country and the individual, and it’s a triumph for the Green Party activists who are determined to see tangible results from being in Government.
THE problem is the funding. Like former finance minister Charlie McCreevy’s radical SSIA, which awarded the most to those who could save the most, this has all the hallmarks of a massive transfer of wealth to the wellheeled sector of the population, courtesy of the taxpayer.
Anyone I know who is interested is in the dusk of middle age with a tiny or non-existent mortgage. While they’re anxious to do their bit for the environment, they are equally anxious to reap the financial returns of owning a home with a B2 energy rating should they decide to downsize.
For the generation behind
them, ironically the generation more committed to Green ideals, finding €25,000 to spare for the investment, or even adding the repayments on a low-interest loan for their share in the €50,000 deep retrofit bill, is pie in the sky.
This means those who will enjoy the benefit of lower energy bills while basking in the warm glow of having played their part in reversing climate change will be either very well off, or old.
Or living in social housing. The minister says those in local authority homes will receive 100% grants for the
work. Once the current waiting list of 7,000 homes and rising is tackled, that is, which might take as long as the proverbial piece of string.
COUPLED with the problem of unfairness is the severe labour shortage. If contractors are in short supply, the risk of the retrofit plan turning into a cowboy builders’ charter is sharply increased. The ambitious plan to make homes more energy-efficient is positive but the mechanism for funding it seems dubious.
In the interest of fairness, could the paths to financing not be widened so that hardworking families could pay for it out of the eventual sale price of their house, something like the Fair Deal scheme for nursing homes? Or could means testing not be introduced for grants?
Like rural electrification, the retrofitting scheme should benefit everyone. It can’t be allowed to bring back the buccaneering behaviour of the Tiger years or create more social inequality.