Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The answer is it has not been about reducing cost because the older scheme in 2019 was far inferior and costs have gone up dramatically. As I said earlier, the provision for the costs is about €2.3 billion. I do not understand how anyone could say that amounts to reducing costs. We have increased the maximum grant available to €420,000. On top of that, recipients get the SEAI grant for including retrofit measures as the house is being repaired, refurbished or built anew. The applications are coming in. We need to accelerate work on getting the job done, notwithstanding challenges with construction, getting builders and so on. We have provided for many issues not provided for in the previous scheme, including preliminary costs around engineering. The Deputy knows it.

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