112. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he will provide an update on the preparation of the business case seeking to establish future State funding, from 2026 to 2030, to support efficient district heating projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30338/25]

Sentiment score: 0.26

Will the Minister of State provide an update on the preparation of the business case seeking to establish future State funding to support efficient district heating projects? I have spoken to the Minister of State before about the wider issue of district heating. Stakeholders in the industry say the support scheme for renewable heat, for example, needs to be looked at to make it more fit for purpose to deliver district heating. We have a specific issue with communal heating systems which also needs to be addressed, which I will deal with later.

Sentiment score: 0.34

It would be good to have a timeline for when the Minister of State sees that business case being in place. I think we all agree on the necessity of renewables and decarbonisation. We have seen some district heating projects that make complete sense where waste energy, rather than remaining waste, is piped in and used as a means of providing heat. We need as much as possible of this done as soon as possible. The Minister of State talks to the stakeholders, I assume. I would like an update on the interactions with the companies that are looking to put plans in place because they are still talking about how there is insufficient support. We have schemes that are not fit for purpose from a point of view of delivering. I will deal with communal heating systems and the particular issues in a moment.

Sentiment score: 0.08

I ask him the Minister of State to come back to me in writing on where that is. Obviously it is very positive. We all want to have schemes that are fit for purpose. We want to see we can actually deliver district heating systems at scale. I return to the Achilles' heel that exists with communal heating systems. I spoke to the Minister before about Carlinn Hall and I spoke to the previous Minister many times. He opened this particular housing estate. It has 200 homes and unfortunately the system that was biomass-fed is now gas-fed. We need to find an alternative. I have spoken to some companies and the SEAI about it. There may be something in train, in which case it is a proposal we will be bringing to the Government. There has been a feasibility study in the area on geothermal energy, a solution that would probably require a number of parts. I hope to get a promise from the Government on delivering for the people concerned. This obviously became a huge issue when gas prices went through the roof, but it is also an environmental disaster. There is a legal framework in an awful lot of other countries to deal with this issue, but it is an anomaly we still have here.

Sentiment score: 0.07