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SEAI Grants 2026: The Complete Guide to Home Energy Funding in Ireland
Published on 28 July 2026 : Updated • 7 minute read
2026 has quietly become the best year on record to upgrade an Irish home. Behind that is the National Residential Retrofit Plan, backed by a record €558 million in government funding and a target of 70,000 home upgrades. For homeowners, the practical result is simple: bigger grants, more measures covered, and — for the first time — support for things like windows and doors that were previously locked behind a full retrofit.
If you have been putting off insulating the attic, swapping the oil boiler for a heat pump, or finally getting solar panels on the roof, the numbers now stack up in a way they never quite did before.
This guide walks through every Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant on offer in 2026 — what you can claim, who qualifies, and how to apply. As a registered SEAI One Stop Shop, Churchfield Home Services has managed more than 6,000 home upgrades across Ireland, and we handle the grant paperwork so you don't have to. Wherever it helps, we've flagged where our team can take the process off your plate entirely.
Individual Energy Upgrade Grants: Do One Measure at a Time
The Individual Energy Upgrade Grants — many people still call them the Better Energy Homes grants — let you tackle a single improvement without signing up for a whole-house retrofit. Insulate the attic this year, replace the windows next year, add a heat pump the year after. Each measure is a separate grant, so you can spread the work (and the spend) at your own pace.
There's no means test and no upper age limit. Your home generally needs to have been built and occupied before 2011 (before 2021 for heat pumps and renewables). Landlords and approved housing bodies can apply too.
If you'd rather do several upgrades together, our page on individual energy upgrades explains how single-measure grants compare to the One Stop Shop route.
Insulation Grants
Heat escapes through the roof, the walls and the floor — so insulation is almost always the smartest first euro you spend. It makes every later upgrade, a heat pump especially, work harder for you. Because bigger homes have more surface to cover, grant values scale by property type. SEAI raised the attic and cavity wall rates on 3 February 2026.
| Property type | Grant |
|---|---|
| Detached | €2,000 |
| Semi-detached / end-terrace | €1,300 |
| Mid-terrace | €1,200 |
| Apartment | €800 |
| Property type | Grant |
|---|---|
| Detached | €1,800 |
| Semi-detached / end-terrace | €1,200 |
| Mid-terrace | €800 |
| Apartment | €700 |
| Property type | Grant |
|---|---|
| Detached | €8,000 |
| Semi-detached / end-terrace | €6,000 |
| Mid-terrace / apartment | €3,000 |
| Property type | Grant |
|---|---|
| Detached | €4,500 |
| Semi-detached / end-terrace | €3,500 |
| Mid-terrace | €2,000 |
| Apartment | €1,500 |
Floor insulation: up to €3,500 for houses.
For attic and cavity work, SEAI reckons the grant now clears roughly 80% of the typical bill. External wall insulation is a larger investment — the grant covers somewhere between a fifth and a third of the median cost — but nothing else transforms a cold, draughty house quite as dramatically.
Your home must have been built and occupied before 2011, all work has to be done by an SEAI-registered contractor, and — this catches people out — approval must be in hand before the first tool comes out. External wall insulation is one of our specialisms; you can read how we approach it on our external wall insulation page.
A second wall measure New for 2026
Since 2 March 2026, if you've already claimed a grant for cavity or internal wall insulation, you're no longer shut out of further wall funding. You can now apply for a second wall measure. In practice, that means starting with the cheapest option (cavity fill) and later wrapping the outside in external insulation for a genuinely warm, heat-pump-ready home.
A bigger attic grant for first-time buyers New for 2026
First-time buyers of existing homes can now claim a fixed attic insulation grant of up to €2,500. SEAI introduced this because buyers who've just stretched to get on the ladder rarely have much left over — and in a lot of cases, this covers most or all of the attic job.
Enhanced grants on qualifying welfare payments New for 2026
Homeowners receiving the same welfare payments that qualify for the Warmer Homes Scheme can now access higher fixed grants:
- Attic insulation: up to €2,500
- Cavity wall insulation: up to €2,300
- Enhanced BER grant: €280
These often cover the full cost of the work — and crucially, taking them does not push you back down the Warmer Homes waiting list for other measures. If you're waiting on that scheme (currently 24 months plus) but can't wait to warm the house up, this is the fast lane for attic and walls.
Heat Pump Grant: Now Up to €12,500
The headline change of 2026. On 3 February, the heat pump grant almost doubled, jumping from €6,500 to a maximum of €12,500 for houses. It isn't one payment — it's three grants bundled into a single application:
- Up to €6,500 towards the heat pump itself (air-to-water or ground-to-water systems)
- Up to €2,000 for the central heating side — radiators, pipework or underfloor heating where the system needs it
- €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus if you're moving away from oil, gas, solid fuel or electric storage heating
Apartments can claim up to €9,500. Air-to-air systems, which don't produce hot water, top out at €7,500 (a €3,500 heat pump grant plus the €4,000 bonus).
Your home must date from before 2021 and hit a Heat Loss Indicator of 2.0 or lower — which is another way of saying it needs to be properly insulated first. Homes built before 2007 need a Technical Assessment before you apply. Helpfully, the new €12,500 ceiling also applies to open applications where you haven't yet submitted a Request for Payment.
A heat pump only earns its keep in a well-sealed, well-insulated home, which is exactly why we recommend starting with an assessment rather than a purchase. See our heat pump installation page for how we size and specify systems.
Enjoy Year-Round Comfort with a Heat Pump
Is my home is Heatpump ready?Tags
- One Stop Shop
- Windows & Doors
- Heat Pumps
- Solar PV
- Home Energy Assessment
- Insulation Services
- Cavity Wall Insulation
- IEU Grants
- Fully Funded Energy Upgrades
- SEAI Grants
- Home Energy Upgrade Grants
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Published on 28 July 2026: Updated • 7 minute read
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