Labour claimed this morning some 30,000 unemployed construction workers could be put back to work through a new national retrofit scheme to insulate people's homes.
However, the party has not promised any new State money to finance the plan, arguing people could unlock their savings to insulate their own homes to save money on fuel.
Labour energy spokeswoman Liz McManus said there simply wasn't an enormous amount of State money to finance the policy. But she said people could be encouraged to invest private money in retrofitting their homes to save money in fuel bills.
She said the retrofitting proposal would address the problem of substandard housing, energy inefficiency and fuel poverty.
"Ireland is in a strong position to create jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency. To do this we need policy and regulatory certainty," she said.
She said Labour would eliminate red tape and bureaucracy that hampers the country's potential to create jobs in the renewable energy sector. She said developers of wind farms faced delays of up to 33 months and had to deal with 14 different agencies to get permission to erect wind turbines. This needs to change, she added.