Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Under subhead C4, the total allocation for the year is €65 million. I take it the bulk of that would be for SEAI. In general the SEAI grant scheme has been good and we can see the benefits of it in communities. There is one weakness with its roll-out. Many people with the greatest fuel poverty are living in the oldest houses which are the worst insulated and hardest to heat. I refer to mass concrete houses in particular, including local authority houses. I have raised this in the Dáil Chamber a number of times with the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, and various other Ministers, including Mr. Phil Hogan before he departed. The Minister, Deputy Naughten, now has responsibility for the environment. We were at sea for a while and had no Minister with responsibility for the environment.

Some houses built in 2005, which were originally fairly well insulated, have had their insulation improved and their energy rating upgraded. Some houses in my area that were already fairly well insulated were able to get the grant and in the case of local authority houses, the local authority did them. Whereas around the corner in another street, houses built in the 1930s or 1920s are far harder to heat. I am a realist and I know they are more expensive and difficult to do. However, there is new technology there.

Someone in the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources needs to take a hands-on role in this. The other Department involved, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, would be interested. That Department has a big job to do in getting the new ones in place. We have dodged the issue and it has not been dealt with. The local authorities have not been able to get to grips with it and we need to address it.

Regarding the €65 million for SEAI, in the recent past questions have been raised about governance at SEAI. I do not think there was any allegation of deliberate wrongdoing, anybody on the fiddle or anything like that. The problem arises with reporting and accountancy mechanisms between SEAI and the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources. As we are dealing with the money and the money is the all-important bit, what has been done to rectify that in the past month or so?