Latest news with #OssianSmyth
RTÉ News
24-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
€2bn retrofitting committment under review, department says
A commitment given by the last government to spend €2bn retrofitting residential homes by the year 2030 is now under review by current Minister for Environment and Energy Darragh O'Brien. A departmental spokesperson told RTÉ News that following the publication of the revised National Development Plan on Tuesday, allocations to specific programme areas are "still being finalised". Within a year of the Green Party going into Coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in 2020, a new National Development Plan was published which had a distinct environmental and climate action focus. There was increased funding of residential retrofits on the basis that it insulates homes and reduces the use of fossil fuels. That Coalition's National Development Plan promised to increase the retrofit budget from €202m in the year 2022 to €2bn by the year 2030. This week, the new Coalition published a revised National Development Plan which boosts NDP funding by €30bn over the next five years. However, the document does not identify what projects will be funded or by how much. Asked if the retrofit budget will be €2bn by the year 2030, a Department of Energy spokesperson could only say yesterday that individual budget lines are "still being finalised", but added that a record €550m has been allocated to the sector this year. The Green Party's Spokesperson on Energy Ossian Smyth has warned that any deviation from the old 2030 targets would be bad for the public and further endanger Ireland's chances of reaching its carbon reduction targets. A spokesperson of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment said: "The Programme for Government affirmed the Government's commitment to making Ireland's buildings more sustainable and energy-efficient, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and lowering energy costs for households. "By promoting retrofitting, renewable heating, and solar energy, we aim to make homes warmer, cheaper to heat, and less reliant on fossil fuels. "We are delivering at scale and pace on our National Retrofit Plan, with €421m of capital expenditure and almost 54,000 home energy upgrades completed last year in 2024. "This year, in 2025, a record capital budget of over €550m has been allocated to the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including the Solar PV Scheme. "This allocation will support over 64,500 home energy upgrades to make homes warmer, healthier and more comfortable, with lower emissions and lower bills. "More broadly, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment welcomes the substantial of €5.64bn allocation under the National Development Plan review, in addition to a landmark €3.5bn investment in Ireland's electricity grid infrastructure. "Thereafter, allocations of monies to specific programme areas within the department are still being finalised. Programme allocations will be announced in due course. "The Government is committed to the continued delivery of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including delivering more B2 home energy upgrades; revising and improving the provision of grants and financing models for homeowners who wish to retrofit, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing costs; as well as the supporting group retrofitting projects and area-based approaches to retrofitting. "On our National Retrofit Plan, we continue to build on the progress achieved in recent years. Since 2019 and to mid-year 2025, there has been a record level of more than €1.4 billion invested in SEAI schemes to support over 213,000 home energy upgrades, including over 69,000 B2s and almost 28,000 fully-funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme."
Agriland
28-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Green Party calls for rapid action to meet emissions targets
The Green Party has today (Wednesday, May 28) expressed concern at the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) projection that Ireland's climate progress has regressed. The party said it comes amid recent warnings from climate scientists that there is now a chance earth could exceed the critical 2°C warming threshold within the next five years. Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agriculture sector 'will range from a 1% increase to a 16% decrease over the period of 2018 to 2030″ according to the EPA report. However while the EPA has underlined the 'progress' the agriculture sector has made in relation to reducing GHG emissions, it has also warned that emissions from the Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector are projected to increase by up to 95%. Green Party Leader, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman stated: 'The Green Party in government delivered the lowest level of carbon emissions in 30 years, turning the tide on years of stagnation in progress. 'Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to bring the same level of urgency to reducing emissions – but that means heeding the warnings of the EPA and making the shift from policy aspiration to fast-tracking practical implementation.' Green Party on emissions report The Green Party proposes stepping up ambition and investment in sectors which it said are lagging behind in emissions progress, such as transport and buildings. Green Party spokesperson for climate, communications and energy, Ossian Smyth said: 'The changes that Ireland needs to catch up with the rest of Europe on climate will improve our daily quality of life. 'If we bring LUAS and commuter rail to our regional cities, help people in rural Ireland to buy EVs [electric vehicles], and make it safe for all children to walk and cycle to school, we will be back on the right track. 'We should be helping tenants and senior citizens with energy upgrades for their homes. If the rest of Europe is going to make these targets, there is no excuse for our Government to sit on their hands.' The Green Party stressed that EPA's report states that even under the most optimistic scenario — where every climate policy and measure planned by the government is implemented in full and on time — we would still only achieve a 23% reduction in emissions by 2030. The party is calling for further measures and innovative proposals across all sectors for rapid implementation to reach agreed targets. 'We call on the government to make a clear and renewed commitment to scaling-up climate ambition to reach our legally binding targets enshrined in the Climate Act,' the party has stated.
