13. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason for the delay in implementing the commitment contained in the programme for Government that introduced a minimum BER for the private rental sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53530/25]

Sentiment score: 0.03

Somewhere between 240,000 and 260,000 rental homes in Ireland fall below the B standard for BER. Tenants renting those homes are hit with the double blow of rents that are too high and energy bills that are artificially high because the places they are renting are not energy-efficient. In Housing for All, there was a commitment to set out a roadmap on how these homes could be upgraded. Where is that roadmap?

Sentiment score: 0.16

Hundreds of thousands of renters in Ireland face that double blow of rents that are too high and energy bills that are artificially high because they live in homes that are not energy-efficient. Their homes are cold, draughty and mouldy, which is a direct cause of energy poverty. It is also a contributing factor to our carbon emissions from the housing sector. The Minister of State has set out some research done by the ESRI. It is valuable research. It shows us the scale of the challenge. Some 240,000 to 260,000 homes will need to be retrofitted. The overall cost to retrofit them all will be between €7 billion and €8 billion. The Minister of State listed three measures, which is great, but at what point will we see a systematic approach to dealing with a challenge that is huge in its scale? We need a plan. Is the Minister of State still going to bring forward a roadmap? Can he give us a date for when that roadmap will be published?

Sentiment score: 0.10

As a Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Cummins needs to put as much of his concern towards renters who are stuck in these cold, draughty homes as he is towards landlords. A challenge of this scale will only be addressed if a plan is actually in place. I am concerned that the Minister of State does not seem to have any sort of date or timeline for the delivery. I am also concerned about his use of the term "under active review". Will he clarify that the Department at least still plans to bring forward a roadmap on retrofitting? Maybe the Minister of State cannot give me a date today, but is he still going to undertake this roadmap? Having that roadmap would allow the Government to plan the scale of investment that is necessary. This will take a lot of money. The previous Government put aside large amounts of money in the climate fund to deal with climate measures - this sort of measure - but, of course, the Government has now raided that fund and it is gone. By not having a plan in place, the Minister of State lost the opportunity to bid to fund this scale of retrofitting.

Sentiment score: 0.06