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WE AT FRIENDS of the Earth welcome the incremental increases in climate investment announced in Budget 2025, but we are deeply frustrated by the Government’s failure to implement the innovative measures needed to make the climate transition truly fair and inclusive.
One of the most glaring missed opportunities is the decision to allocate €500 million to untargeted universal energy credits, money that could have been targeted to those most in need this winter.
Friends of the Earth had hoped that Budget 2025 would represent a step-change in how the Government tackles both climate action and energy poverty. We wanted to see the targeted investments needed to bring more people into the climate transition, especially those at risk of being left behind.
One of the biggest disappointments is the Government’s decision to allocate €500 million to giving every household €250 regardless of financial need. This costs more than the total retrofitting budget for the entire year, yet it provides only temporary relief without addressing the root causes of energy poverty or reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
We are disappointed that the Government has chosen this path again, especially after last year’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showed that despite €1.2 billion in energy credits, over half a million people still went without heating due to cost. The €500 million could have been used much more effectively.
For example, increasing the Fuel Allowance to restore its purchasing power or doubling the funding for the Warmer Homes Scheme, which provides fully funded retrofits for low-income households. This approach would have reduced energy bills permanently for those most at risk of energy poverty, while also helping us lower our emissions.
The Government also failed to extend the Fuel Allowance to 50,000 families on the Working Family Payment. This would have cost just €80 million, yet it would have helped keep these families warm this winter. It’s baffling that the Government continues to ignore the needs of these households, particularly when targeted supports are so clearly more effective than one-size-fits-all solutions like universal energy credits.
Another area where Budget 2025 falls short is in addressing the needs of renters and those in social housing. Low-income renters, particularly those on Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), are locked out of retrofitting opportunities despite often living in the least energy-efficient housing. We have called for HAP recipients to be made eligible for free retrofitting through the Warmer Homes Scheme, conditional on a long-term lease being offered, but the Government has once again ignored this group.
Renters are one of the groups most vulnerable to energy poverty, yet they are consistently excluded from schemes that could significantly improve their living conditions.
Equally concerning is the Government’s decision not to increase the budget for retrofitting social housing. At €90 million per year, the current plan will only allow for 25% of social housing to be upgraded by 2030. We’ve advocated for a much more ambitious plan to upgrade all social housing by 2030, which will need an increased and multi-annual funding strategy. Polling from Ireland Thinks showed strong public support for this proposal, and yet, despite the resources available, the Government has passed up the opportunity to make a real difference for thousands of households.
Budget 2025 does include some positive measures that we welcome. The reduction in VAT on heat pumps to 9% is a good step in the right direction. Ireland currently has the lowest rates of renewable heat in Europe, and any measure that improves the affordability of renewable heat solutions is welcome. The extension of free public transport to 6, 7, and 8-year-olds is another positive move, though we would like to see this extended to all children under 16.
We also welcome the €750 million investment in the electricity grid, provided this is used to support renewable energy to heat our homes and power our transport. The increase in retrofitting funding to €469 million, including €240 million for fully funded home energy upgrades for low-income households, is also significant.
As we inevitably turn our attention from Budget 2025 towards the upcoming general election, it is clear that more needs to be done to ensure that the climate transition is both effective and fair. Friends of the Earth will continue to push all political parties to detail how they will cut pollution fast enough to stay within the legally binding limits set by this government while also reducing poverty and inequality.
In the end, Budget 2025 is a missed opportunity. The resources were clearly there to make bold, innovative changes that would have permanently lifted people out of energy poverty while reducing emissions. Instead, we have an incremental approach that lacks the ambition and innovation needed to make the climate transition truly inclusive.
Clare O’Connor is Programme Coordinator for Friends of the Earth.
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Why are the 3 of them going wouldn’t the president be enough
@John O brien: you know how it is. It’s about being seen. You would be more noticed by your absence.
@offside again: and a nice junket in the sun, why say no?
@John O brien: The president is an atheist. The government could at least send someone who the event has meaning.
@Mark R: He’s not only an atheist, he’s also a fully paid-up card carrying gob$hite!
@John O brien: the president represent Ireland.
the 2 others are unnecessary and should concentrate on their home work !!!
@John O brien: hopefully plane fall out the ski
@John O brien: hopefully the 3 of them will be ordained over there and STAY there for the
Hardly necessary to send the 3 of them over, one is enough. Free holiday for the boys
Parish Priest Lowry and Mother Superior Verona not going?
Yet they did not wish a Happy Easter to the country between them,avoided the term..hypocrites
@KO: That’s not true at all. Look up twitter. It’ll take you 2 minutes.
@honey badger: What, you mean it wasn’t done through the official government mouthpiece in rte
@honey badger: it is MM was badgered with requests to do so..forcing a response does not count
@KO: pathetic.
Of course Harris has to go with his I’m an important person facial expression
The 3 stogies are back together again. Ok, so the pope has passed on may he ready in peace. The question still remains, when are the religious orders going to acknowledge the hurt, suffering and pain they caused some citizens of our country and in other country. When are they going to pay their share for the damage inflected on our citizens and the country.
Why are 3 going?? Sure Micheal D is the man to go.
They might as well go sure the whole off Montrose is there already.
The irony of Mohammad Martin going to the Holy Father’s funeral.
If the Taoiseach, Tánaiste aka prime minister and deputy prime minister the holders of executive power and the President aka head of state, are all going to absent from Ireland, who holds the reins of power in the event of a national emergency, natural disaster, terrorist attack or the alleged imminent Russian invasion of Europe, which is prompting the EU to push to spend billions of Euros on defence over the next few years to do nothing but line the pockets of hedgefunds.
Don’t tell me it’s Paschal Donohoe…
@Dvsespaña: probably Lowry…
@Matt D: Lowry, sure he’ll take all them brown envelopes for himself.
@Dvsespaña: didn’t HealyRae look after us when the entire government took off on St Patrick’s weekend.
Martin and Harris have no business being there.
Seems a bit perverse that these three represent Ireland at such a gathering when their very vocal support for abortion, described by the late pontiff as the work of hitmen, should really rule them out.
@AnthonyK: Three hypocrites.
Very embarrassing thee of them going over
Larry, Moe and Curly.
It will present opportunities to share time with others who respect peace efforts Pope made and have important meetings on the sidelines and after and say a few prayers or sentiments.
@thomas molloy: what? You mean the pedo protector in chief?
Ah sure they are well entitled to a mid term break all the work they have made out to have done
Bill and Bob have to go together
Wonder how the three pro abortionists will be received?
@Billy Joe: Hopefully. they can enlighten the acolytes of that superstitous and backward cult.
The entire Cabinet should be present. It’s our beloved Pope who is being laid to rest. I’d go myself except I wasn’t invited.
@Paul Whitehead: at the taxpayers expense? Are you mad? For the head of a cult? And let’s be real that’s all it is.
@Paul Whitehead: he’s not my beloved pope . I’m a Protestant and my rights are guarenteed by our constitution .theres absolutely ref my no justification for the three of them going
Why not send Connor !. RIP to the Pope, sound like he didn’t want any of the fanfare.
@did you every wonder: because he’s a total gimp?
So just to be clear , the 3 great offices of the state ? And just who would be in charge if there was a national crisis of some sort . We live in a democracy not a theocracy . I’m respectful of those who have religious belief and I’ve also no problem with a representation at the funeral but many of us are of a different faith or none .
have your say