The Government has delivered just 1.7 percent of the 500,000 ‘deep retrofits’ promised by 2030, according to its latest figures.
The opposition has said that the Government is “failing miserably” to hit its retrofitting targets.
Micheál Martin, Leo Varadker and Eamon Ryan announced last year that half a million Irish households will get grants worth tens of thousands to slash both their heating costs and home emissions.
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The move aims to bring the 500,000 homes to a B2 energy efficiency rating, which roughly meets 2011 building standards.
According to the figures released on Monday, the number of homes now retrofitted to that standard is 8,481, which the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) say doubled from 2021.
The SEAI figures state that almost 27,200 energy upgrades were completed in 2022, up 80% on 2021. The number of homes upgraded to a BER B2 almost doubled, to 8,481.
The opposition has also sharply criticised the figures, stating that the Government has hit just 3.7% of its own targets in the last five years.
The Social Democrats’ climate spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore argued that the headline figure of 27,000 retrofits does not “look so good” when the numbers are analysed.
She explained: “The government has set a target of upgrading 500,000 homes to at least a BER of B2 by 2030. However, since 2017, just 18,527 homes have been upgraded to a B2 level. This is just 3.7% of its own target.
“The government’s National Retrofit Plan, published in 2022, [...] states ‘we need to greatly increase the depth and volume of retrofits as well as the number of heat pumps installed in order to deliver the required emissions reductions’.
“Light retrofits, like installing attic insulation, will not be sufficient to reduce CO2 emissions to the required level. The Government’s own plan is clear about this.
“The Government must stop misrepresenting figures and patting itself on the back for failure. The reality is the number of deep retrofits that are being carried out each year is incredibly low – and nowhere near sufficient to reach our targets.
“The Government is failing miserably to achieve its own retrofitting targets. It must now tell us how it intends reaching its target of 500,000 homes upgraded to a BER 2 level by 2030 – given more than 480,000 homes need to be upgraded in the next seven years.”
In a press release from the SEAI, Minister Ryan said that the aim to retrofit 500,000 homes to a BER of B2 is “extremely ambitious”.
However, he argued that “momentum is building” and that the SEAI will support “37,000” energy upgrades this year. He did not state, however, how many of these homes will be upgraded to a B2 standard, as set out in the Climate Action Plan.
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