The impact of inflation on the cost of retrofitting has not yet dampened demand for grants available to households for energy efficiency upgrades, the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee has been told.
Department of the Environment secretary general Mark Griffin said that despite the increased costs, there has been “significant growth” in applications for support from households since the National Retrofit Plan was announced in February. Research carried out for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) showed that retrofitting costs increased by 9 per cent between last October and April.
The SEAI told The Irish Times that the cost of retrofitting a three-bedroom semi-detached home — which requires all measures from wall insulation to the installation of an electric heat pump — would have been between €37,000 and €58,000 last year. Now the estimated cost is between €40,000 and €63,000.
The authority offers grants covering up to €25,000 of the costs of a deep retrofit to a B2 energy rating, with an additional €2,000 available to those who install a heat pump.
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In a letter, Mr Griffin told the committee that applications to SEAI are this year running at roughly double the level recorded last year. “Applications for attic and cavity have almost tripled and applications for heat pumps and external wall insulation are up 80 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.”
He added: “To date, inflation does not appear to have dampened demand for the SEAI residential energy efficiency schemes though this will be kept under review.”
The SEAI said that up to the end of June it has had 24,000 applications across all programmes, more than were received in all of last year.
The Government’s retrofitting scheme, part of the climate action plan, has a target of upgrading 500,000 homes by 2030.
National Maternity Hospital
Separately, the committee has received an update on the spending on the planned new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at the St Vincent’s hospital campus in Dublin 4. Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt told the spending watchdog that some €95.3 million had been spent as of the end of April.
This has gone on enabling and construction works, design, professional consultancy fees and business case and planning permission preparation. Planning permission was secured in 2017.
A new pharmacy to replace the one that was on the site where the NMH will be located has been built and a new car park has been built to serve the new maternity hospital and St Vincent’s. Both are now in operation. The new NMH is expected to cost €800 million overall.
The project has been the subject of controversy. In April, the Religious Sisters of Charity transferred its shareholding in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group to another entity, St Vincent’s Holdings, which will lease the land on which it is proposed to build the new NMH for 299 years.
There were fears in some quarters that potential lingering religious influence could mean abortions or fertility treatment would not be allowed to take place at the new hospital. The Government has dismissed such concerns.
In his letter, Mr Watt says that the Government approved the legal framework to underpin the relocation in May
He says this framework ensures all legally permissible services will be available in the new NMH and will prevent any influence, religious or otherwise, on the operation of the hospital. Mr Watt also says it will “safeguard the State’s significant investment in the hospital”.
