Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are plenty of areas in Roscommon and east Galway as well. Under the pilot scheme, we will be spending approximately €20,000 on those homes in terms of retrofitting, insulation and the installation of a renewable source of heating.

In regard to the warmer homes scheme, we are also considering the use of a renewable source of heating for houses eligible under that scheme. This may be an attractive scheme to elderly people in particular who are no longer able to carry turf to the range and find it difficult to take out ashes and so on. They can then act as the benchmark for other people in the community to have that work done.

We also need to address the issue of fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is not only a problem for people on low incomes. There are many families paying mortgages, child care costs and so on that have very limited disposable income. We are also considering the introduction of a retrofit scheme for such families under the better energy homes scheme. Under that scheme, families would eligible for a 50% grant. For families that have cash or have access to capital, that is great. We are working with the SEAI, the NTMA and the European Investment Bank to put a suite of funding models in place for domestic customers. This will allow families to pay for this work incrementally on their electricity or gas bills over an extended timeframe. Some families may be able to raise a loan to part-fund the work and others may be able to come up with the cash necessary, but there are a number of funding models available to them to put the matching 50% funding in place. We are putting aside €5 million for this scheme this year to deal with some of the technical challenges arising, including taking fossil fuels out of those homes.

The private capital that is available will be used to significantly ramp up those schemes from this year on.