Ms Mary Hurley:

With regard to location and the place for older people, at the heart of the national planning framework is having well-connected facilities for older people. That is in objective 30 of the national planning framework.

The Minister of State, Deputy English, is advancing a piece of work on urban renewal. We would consider it to be very important that older people are in areas where they can access community supports, transport services and social supports.

On the issue of energy efficiency, the Department has a retrofit programme and provides funding for energy efficiency measures. We work directly with local authorities on that. The SEAI has a separate private grant scheme which is also very important. There is some provision under the housing adaptation scheme to provide heating support. If a person's heating is not working at all, he or she can apply for grant assistance.