Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has welcomed the further roll out of energy upgrades for council housing in the county.
Deputy Stanley described the continuation of this programme by Laois County Council as ‘very positive’.
He said: “Laois County Council are now going to prioritise the remaining houses they own in the following estates: St Brigid’s Place Portlaoise, Fr. O’Connor Cresent, Mountrath, Erkindale Drive Durrow, and Rossmore View Graiguecullen.
“I am hopeful that this will get Department sanction for matching funding in the very near future and works can be done this year.’’
While Deputy Stanley says good progress is being made here, he says more needs to be done on the private front.
He said: “While good progress is being made by the local authority, some of the schemes for privately owned houses have been slow.
“All of the schemes come under the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI).
“The Warmer Home Schemes which is a free scheme for the elderly and the lowest income households has a waiting time of 24 months.
“It is estimated that there are over 200,000 such households in need of basic insulation and energy upgrade.”
Deputy Stanley also revealed that there are ‘huge delays’ with the National Energy Upgrade Scheme which covers up to 50% of the cost of deep retrofits including heat pumps.
He said: “Only 10 of these deep retrofits were completed up to May last year and this is the most recent figure we have from the Department.
“One of the main problems that is being reported by constituents, is the difficulty in acquiring the services of an approved contractors.
“These are contractors that SEAI have approved and brought into the scheme. The number of these needs to be increased significantly.
“The other area that must be addressed is training workers in skills for energy upgrades and retrofitting of houses.
“If we are going to reach the Government target of 500,000 homes to have energy upgrades by 2030, then the capacity across all the SEAI schemes needs to be ramped up.”
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