Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
182. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the number of heat pumps installed since 2020 under the National Retrofitting Programme; the projected installation rate to 2030; and whether his Department has assessed alternative solutions for the 300,000+ rural homes unlikely to be retrofitted. [71512/25]
View answerThe Climate Action Plan (CAP) sets out policies, measures and actions to achieve sectoral emissions ceilings for the residential sector.
The National Heat Study, published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), contains detailed analysis that is being used by my Department to inform the development of policies and measures to decarbonise Ireland’s heating by 2050. The study considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwellings and business premises. The recommendation of the heat study is that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for heating systems in buildings, with district heating also being an option that can be widely deployed.
Since 2019, there has been a record level of over €1.6 billion invested in SEAI schemes to support almost 240,000 home energy upgrades, including over 81,000 BER B2s, 18,000 heat pump installations and over 32,000 fully-funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme. In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage funded a further 14,300 Local Authority upgrades, including over 7,250 heat pumps between 2019 to 2024. This means that over 25,000 heat pumps have been installed with Government support since 2019.
The Programme for Government 2025 commits to targeting older homes still using oil to switch to renewable heating systems and to consider the use of sustainable biofuels to reduce emissions from existing home boilers where deep retrofits are not possible in the short term. These commitments are framing the work underway to develop a Heat Policy Statement and the Roadmap to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Heating Systems which will jointly set out Ireland's overarching approach to decarbonising the heat sector.
Increasing the uptake of energy efficiency measures among homeowners continues to be a key priority for my Department working in partnership with the SEAI. Further policies and measures will be introduced on an annual basis to support the achievement of our retrofit and heat pump targets.
