Ryan admits homeowners face a long wait for retrof itting

ENERGY minister Eamon Ryan has admitted that householders trying to be more green face long waits to retrofit their homes this winter. Mr Ryan said schemes such as the ‘Better Energy Homes’, have waiting lists of more than 9,600 applications as homeowners hurriedly try to avoid enormous fuel bills.

Details of the large waiting lists emerged under questioning from Social Democrat TD, Jennifer Whitmore, pictured. The Green Party minister also revealed homeowners are waiting more than two years for applications to be processed. ‘Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) data indicates that for homes which completed retrofitting in 2022, the average cycle time from application to completion was 28 months for the Warmer Homes Scheme and the Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme,’ he said. Mr Ryan has blamed the long waiting times on ‘a function of the level of disruption caused by COVID-19’. The highest waiting list was in Dublin where 2,697 homes are awaiting completion in one scheme alone. Mr Ryan said that since 2000, more than 465,000 homeowners have upgraded their homes with support from SEAI schemes, representing nearly one home in four across the country.

‘This has resulted in warmer, healthier, and more comfortable homes that are easier to heat and light,’ he added.

However in the first five months of 2022, amid ‘huge competition’ for skilled workers, just 6,903 homes have availed of the eight retrofitting schemes available to homeowners. Mr Ryan also responded to Dáil questions from his party colleague, Francis Noel Duffy, about the number of retrofitted homes since 2019.

‘In 2019, the last pre-coronavirus year a total of 24,742 homes were retrofitted,’ he said. ‘This fell to 17,616 in 2020 and 15457 in 2021 owing to the series of lockdowns.’

The figures also reveal declines in applicants to some schemes.

Take-up of the Better Energy Homes Scheme has fallen from 18,531 in

2019 to just 3,018 in the first five months of 2022.

There has been no take-up of four schemes comprising Deep Retrofit, Better Energy Finance and Community Energy Grants. By contrast, solar panels are becoming increasingly popular with a take-up of 2096 in the first five months of the year and 4,089 grants being awarded last year.

Mr Ryan revealed that approximately 4,100 jobs are supported through retrofitting based on 2021 completions.

But the Government has also conceded that planned completions for 2022 will run into 2023.

Fellow Green minister Malcolm Noonan told the

Dáil recently: ‘With regard to the overall retrofit, 8,600 homes were completed at the end of June. The target for 2022 is 27,900. There is a risk to this... this is with regard to supply chain constraints.

‘It will not be until 2023, when many of these issues can be addressed and we will catch up on those targets.’ Sinn Féin climate spokesperson Darren O’Rourke said this was evidence that ‘the Government’s retrofitting plan is not working’. He added: ‘It is too slow and too bureaucratic and too many of those who need work completed are excluded based on strict eligibility criteria or ability to pay. Waiting lists for the free Warmer Homes Scheme are now up to 27 months and getting longer. The 2022 target of 4,800 retrofits under this scheme looks set to be missed. Just 1,889 homes were completed by the end of June.’