The commitments in the Programme for Government are framing the work underway by my Department in continued delivery and development of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's (SEAI) residential and community energy upgrade schemes.
The Climate Action Plan sets out actions and measures to be taken to achieve sectoral emissions ceilings for the residential sector. These measures include the retrofit of existing homes and installation of heat pumps to support the achievement of the required emissions reductions.
The most recent 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 SEAI has a number of schemes in place to support homeowners to upgrade their properties, thereby allowing homeowners to choose the best home upgrade option to suit their particular needs. These include a number of part-funded schemes and the fully-funded Warmer Homes scheme.
Between 2019 and November 2025, the SEAI residential and community retrofit schemes have provided over €1.6 billion of support to homeowners across the country. This expenditure has resulted in 239,118 home energy upgrades, including over 81,200 BER B2 upgrades and 32,800 fully funded upgrades under the Warmer Homes Scheme.
Budget 2026 has provided record funding of €558 million for the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes next year. This is an increase of €89 million on the Budget 2025 allocation. This funding is expected to be further supplemented with additional monies, such as an allocation from the European Regional Development Fund, which will provide for an increase in the allocation for the Warmer Home Scheme. These allocations will be published as part of the Revised Estimates Volume.
The Programme for Government commits to ramping up the achievement of retrofit targets through continued delivery of the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including 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.
Increasing the uptake of energy efficiency upgrades and measures among homeowners is a key priority for my Department and as such, my officials, in partnership with their colleagues in the SEAI, continue to work to deliver in line with the National Retrofit Plan and Programme for Government commitments.
