Laois council house energy up grade welcomed but private homeowners need help too

Plans to make more Laois council houses more comfortable and less energy hungry have been welcomed by a local TD who insists people who own their own homes in Laois also need help.

Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has welcomed the further roll out of energy upgrades for council housing in the county.

He said Laois County Council is prioritising the remaining houses they own in the following estates:

• St Brigid’s Place Portlaoise,
• Fr. O’Connor Cresent, Mountrath,
• Erkindale Drive Durrow, 
• Rossmore View Graiguecullen.

"The continuation of this programme by Laois County Council is very positive. I am hopeful that this will get Department sanction for matching funding in the very near future and works can be done this year,’ he said.

However, he insist more progress is needed and private households also need assistance but face big delays.

“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. 

“There are also huge delays with the National Energy Upgrade Scheme which covers up to 50% of the cost of deep retrofits including heat pumps. 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,’’ he said.

Laois Offaly Centre of Excellence good for jobs and households insists Minister

The Midlands is home to a major energy retrofit centre which was inspected by Laois Offaly Green Party Minister Pippa Hackett. It is operated by the Laois Offaly Education and Training Board.