Mr. Jim Scheer:

I do not have a specific project example from the midlands but I know that projects are taking place in the region. There are 320 sustainable energy communities currently being supported by the SEAI. Any group of people who want to get together and call themselves a community can get training and support from the SEAI. We can also assign them an expert mentor who can help them to determine an energy master plan for their area and set their own vision for how they want to see the transition happen in their area. There is a map of those on our website on which members can view the various sustainable energy communities by region, drill into them and get some details about who they are. Their contact details are available. I am sure there are some case studies on the web as well. I will take a look and make sure to send on any that are relevant for that area.

That is our sustainable energy community model, which aims to help communities learn about and plan for sustainable energy. Hanging off that, as well as the supports to develop those master plans, we provide approximately €20 million in grants through the better energy communities capital grant scheme. That involves different agencies aggregating homes, including the fuel poor and the can pay sector, to have their homes upgraded along with other sectors, maybe some local businesses, the local community sports hall or schools. There have been between 300 and 400. I do not have the exact number. I will send on the kind of progression with the number of projects that have been supported through that scheme. I imagine there are a couple of case studies coming out of that work as well. We are monitoring the impacts of those schemes because we certainly feel that the community-based model is something that is scaleable to the level we need to get to, and the strength of those kinds of grassroots versus house-by-house schemes are the way forward.