My Department funds a number of grant schemes administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to support homeowners, businesses and communities improve the energy efficiency of their buildings, and to promote the adoption of renewable energy systems. These schemes include grants for the fabric upgrade of buildings (e.g. insulation) as well as solar PV and heat pump installations.
Following Government approval, the National Residential Retrofit Plan (NRRP) was published in January with an enhanced set of measures to increase the delivery of home energy upgrades.
The NRRP will continue to make home energy upgrades more accessible and affordable making it easier for homeowners to undertake deep retrofits on a phased basis as suits their budgets. The new measures announced include new and enhanced attic and cavity wall insulation grants, an enhanced heat pump system grant, as well as grants for windows and doors.
The Community Energy Grant (CEG) Scheme supports new approaches to achieving high quality improvements in energy efficiency within Irish communities. Communities do this by bringing together groups of buildings under the same retrofit programme, to facilitate community-wide energy improvements more efficiently and cost effectively than might otherwise be possible.
The CEG Scheme is refocused on the delivery of homes and since 2024 the scheme supports new domestic strands, including a pilot scheme to support the energy upgrade of Multi Unit Development (MUD) homes. The MUD pilot is open to Approved Housing Bodies, private investors and owner management organisations.
Also in 2024, the CEG Scheme commenced an initiative to examine area-based retrofits, aimed at upgrading homes in an integrated way in a specific geographical area. The area-based pilot continues to be progressed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) by gathering data on technical aspects, materials, products, and installation costs.
These projects encourage CEG Scheme project co-ordinators, Local Authorities and Local Energy Agencies to collaborate to target mixed ownership Local Authority estates to harness local interest and participation. They aim to:
• encourage homeowners, regardless of requirements or means, to get a retrofit, with the objective of leaving no home behind;
• provide local guidance and support to undertake projects and throughout their implementation;
• give homeowners the confidence to act – the neighbourhood effect;
• provide project management within the community;
• deliver economies of scale in terms of pricing from an integrated project; and
• remove the administrative burden allowing for ease of access to grants.
The National Energy Affordability Taskforce was formed to identify, assess and implement measures to enhance energy affordability for households. The Taskforce is now leading the response to the energy shock, and the immediate associated energy affordability challenge, as well as preparing an Energy Affordability Action Plan. This work includes examining how to support increased uptake of home energy efficiency upgrades and the continued development of the SEAI retrofit schemes, in line with commitments in the Programme for Government.
