Attic Insulation Grants

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The Ryan and Gormley
Attic Insulation
Grant Scheme

Eamon Ryan and John Gormley jointly announced the Irish national insulation grant scheme. They claim it will create 4,000 'green collar' jobs and help the unemployed building workers.

The hype has the late launch of the scheme pinned as " the national insulation programme for economic recovery" (cringe – cringe!!) The basis is a fund of €100m for insulation projects for this year. They are very optimistically estimating that 50,000 homes will be upgraded. I would say that there is not a snowballs hope in hell of reaching this target.


The grant system is too darn complex.

There will be a €250 grant towards the estimated €700 cost of attic insulation. The BIG catch is the, “if you go down in the woods” BER. This BER has claws that will tear chunks of money from you. You will have to have TWO - yes (you don't need new glasses) - TWO that is 2 - BER assessments in order to get the miserable attic insulation grant. That means you have to cough up €200+ as your part of the two fees for the BER assessments – that is your grant money down the toilet straight away.

The lads say the scheme will give €700 annual savings on household heating bills. That is not far off my entire heating bill which is about €1100 – so would that mean I would get to heat my house for €400 pa ?

The schemes will be administered by guess who? - Sustainable Energy Ireland.


The SEI Conditions


A BEFORE and an AFTER works BER assessment must be completed.

Roof Roof Insulation: €250
Wall Cavity insulation: €400
Internal Wall Dry-Lining: €2,500
External wall insulation: €4,000
Heating Controls High Efficiency Gas or Oil fired Boiler with Heating Controls Upgrade: €700
Heating Controls Upgrade: €500

Grants are payable when measures are completed in compliance with the scheme’s Terms and Conditions.

Flush the pan please!

If you are one of the few people able to afford the cost of a complete home heat upgrade, and if you are able to put up with the tradesmen, the disruption and mess that it entails, and if you have the patience to jump through all of the SEI hoops involved, it might be worth your while going the SEI route for a whole house upgrade.

For the small guy who just wants to put a bit of extra insulation in the attic, the scheme is a dead loss.

Any incentive needs to be (1) Very Attractive, and (2) simple and easy to use. This scheme is neither.

Screw the grant.

My suggestion, get your insulation materials for half price at Home Base. and get the guy next door to do a nixer. It will work out well cheaper than going the SEI option and getting the grants.



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