Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 December 2025
90. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to provide a breakdown of the annual uplift in the funding allocated to retrofitting under the national development plan in each of the years 2020 to 2030, in tabular form. [73007/25]
View answerThe Programme for Government 2025 commits to ramping up the delivery of retrofitting towards the achievement of 2030 targets set out under the Climate Action Plan and the National Retrofit Plan. This includes revising and improving the provision of grants and financing models for homeowners who wish to retrofit, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing costs, as well as the supporting group retrofitting projects and area-based approaches to retrofitting.
The most recent Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) data show that emissions from the residential sector are likely to remain within their sectoral ceiling in the first carbon budget period (to end 2025).
The National Retrofit Plan is delivering at scale and pace. 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.
Each year since 2022, the overall allocation from carbon tax revenues for SEAI residential and community retrofit schemes has increased. These allocations have been further supplemented with additional funding, including European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) monies for the Warmer Homes scheme.
The allocation of up to €3.7 billion in carbon tax revenues to 2030 via the National Development Plan will support continuing ambitious delivery under the National Retrofit Plan, supporting achievement of the Climate Action Plan residential sectoral ceiling for the period 2026 to 2030.
As a first step, Budget 2026 announced funding of €558 million from the carbon tax for SEAI residential and community energy upgrades, including the Solar PV (photovoltaic) Scheme. This is an €89 million increase on last year’s carbon tax allocation and means that more funding than ever will be available to make homes warmer, healthier, more comfortable and less expensive to heat. This allocation is again expected to be further supplemented with additional funding, such as an allocation from the ERDF. Further details will be published as part of the Revised Estimates Volume.
The Deputy may wish to note that details on the use of the carbon tax are published annually as part of the budget publications. The 2026 publication is available at: assets.gov.ie/static/documents/2c8f3efb/The_Use_of_the_Carbon_Tax_Budget_2026.pdf
