Ireland nowhere close to retrofitting targets - expert

Ireland is nowhere close to reaching its retrofitting targets and the pace of energy renovation is still too slow, an expert has said.

The Government's retrofitting targets are for half a million homes to be retrofitted to a minimum of a B2 Building Energy Rating by the year 2030.

So far, fewer than 90,000 have been retrofitted to that standard.

The total number of heat pumps installed from 2019 to 2025 was 18,580, against a Climate Action Plan target of 45,000 by the end of 2025. The target for 2030 is 400,000.

Retrofitting is seen as an effective way to reduce the country's carbon emissions and improve people's health.

However, Chair of the Irish Green Building Council Ali Grehan said in Ireland, there is an instinct to buy and build new buildings instead of renovating existing building stock.

"We've got to find a way of producing a system, an approach to renovating our building stock in Ireland that actually acknowledges the different context levels of need," Ms Grehan said.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week during a retrofitting conference in Dublin, she said that if only a fraction of what needs to be achieved in energy renovation is done because only few people can achieve it, the country will certainly not achieve its goals.

She said: "The most sustainable thing you can do is reuse what you have.

"This emphasis on renovation is very important because it actually introduces a more holistic view of our built environment and how it actually contributes to climate change and how we are renovating our existing building stock."

She said that there should be a sense that a vacant derelict building in the middle of a city, a town or village is "completely unacceptable".

She argued that this should be a fundamental principle, not because it is the "magic bullet" but because it would send out an important message that not using the pre-existing stock is a "complete waste".

Ireland, along with other European countries, is required to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings under the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

This would make buildings more affordable to heat, improve energy security, and tackle the climate crisis.

'I'm able to control what happens in my house'

Aidan O’Brien lives in Ellis Court, an assortment of flats and townhouses in Dublin's inner city, that were retrofitted in 2013.

The father of two said he has noticed a difference in warmth compared to where he previously lived.

"There’s a big difference, [my house] does retain the heat," he said.

"My sitting room does quite well in the winter, with the heating with the thermostat, and then in the summer, it's also cooler.

"In the winter, with the heating with the thermostat, and then in the summer, it's also cooler.

"I'm able to control what happens in my house, which I find amazing. I control the level of gas used, and I have it in the most economical setting, both to keep the heat, but also financially okay, because it's a very difficult thing to find that balance," Mr O'Brien said.

Construction manager for housing provider Tuath Housing Nicky Hardy was directly involved in the retrofitting of the complex, originally built in the 1880s.

"Within Ellis Court, we have 19 apartments in an apartment block and three terraced houses. So, we've got 22 households here on a former site that was derelict within a five-minute walk to Dublin city centre," she said.

She added that Tuath worked closely with Coady Architects to ensure that the building fabric was updated and properly insulated.

"We were very cognisant of the fact that within all structures like this, if you insulate them the wrong way, or if you don't include adequate ventilation, that you do end up in a position long term that you're actually creating more problems within the structure for making them too airtight.

"We have upgraded all of the original sash windows. We retained as many of them as possible.

"We've used a smart technology where we have put double glazing into the old frames so that we have increased their insulation properties within the dwellings," she said.