State support for retrofitting people’s homes needs to be scaled up, the Green Party has said. 

Last year, 54,000 homes received retrofitting grants from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland - up from nearly 48,000 the year before. 

In 2023, residential emissions represented 9.3% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing that figure is key to meeting the Government’s climate targets. 

On The Hard Shoulder, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said retrofitting grants need to be increased. 

“The State has to be doing more to help people make these changes,” he said. 

“I think we would have seen the start of that over the last four-and-a-half-years in terms of the increase of grants for retrofit. 

“Last year, 54,000 houses had a retrofit and 7,500 of those were a completely free retrofit for low income households. 

“That’s where the State took all the costs of retrofitting.” 

A man installing a rooftop solar panel array. Image: Radharc Images / Alamy

The Dublin West TD speculated that the cost of living crisis has meant many people who would like to retrofit cannot afford the upfront costs. 

“Part of that is related to the context of that huge spike in all costs that we’ve seen over the last two-and-a-half-years,” he said. 

“I think that’s made people, understandably, incredibly sensitive to anything that they feel is going to impact on their incomes. 

“It also makes them less willing to put in place those long-term investments that are actually going to save them huge amounts of money in the long-term.” 

Solar panels on a roof. Image via Pexels.com

Deputy O’Gorman also defended his party’s record in Government, noting it was Green Party TDs that pushed to cut public transport fares. 

“We’ve taken 20% off the cost of everyone’s public transport bill,” he said. 

“We halved it for young adults. 

“Young adults have a young adult travel card now so that they get half price public transport. 

“Whether they’re students or people in their first job, that bit of extra income is actually really valuable.” 

The Government hopes to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Main image: Roderic O’Gorman. Picture by: Sam Boal/RollingNews