Exploring Retrofit One Stop Shops with Credit Unions in Ireland

Friday 26 January 2024

Last month, ABCUL’s Head of Special Projects, Debbie Smith-Hands travelled to Dublin with a team from People Powered Retrofit to explore how credit unions in Ireland have teamed up to help members retrofit their homes. People Powered Retrofit is a not-for-profit service for householders in Greater Manchester and the North West who help advise, support and deliver retrofit projects in homes.
During the two-day trip Debbie and the People Powered Retrofit team met with representatives from the Irish League of Credit Unions, the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland and the group were even able to see a working heat pump in a customer’s home and learn about their experience with the one-stop-shop service.

The trip came to fruition because some credit unions in Ireland offer members ‘One Stop Shop’ retrofit with finance so members can insulate their homes in an effective, affordable, and environmentally friendly way. Debbie said that part of the trip was to understand how credit unions and retrofit projects collaborate to deliver services to members, and Ireland is already doing this successfully. ABCUL has close links with the Irish credit union movement and Debbie said: “David McAuley, CEO of Donore Credit Union was a very welcoming host, and he was happy to showcase the work they are doing in Dublin with green lending and sustainability in the community.  As Ireland have different legislation and forms of Government support, it was helpful for ABCUL to see how this lending operates in Ireland.”

When asked about the potential for seeing green retrofit projects with British credit unions, Debbie commented that “Retrofit is already popular in GB and this popularity is increasing. Finance for this is usually offered at the point of sale or sourced by the customer. We are looking at how credit unions could add green loans to their portfolios and a create a ‘one-stop-shop’ for retrofit with assessment, finance and fitting arranged in one place. There is a strong link between credit unions and sustainability seen in the US and Ireland and we want to explore the feasibility of replicating this project here”.

Debbie said her highlights from the trip included exploring the “sense of community value as the credit union exists to serve the people within the area and this spirit is what attracted me to the credit union sector in the first place”.