Dr. Brian Motherway:

I am not familiar with the particular situation in Mayo because our remit does not extend to what local authorities do with their housing stock, although we do work with some of them. We certainly encourage higher standards. The point has been well made about affordability and the environment. In general, if a range is old then any new system being installed would probably be more efficient and should cost less to run. If, as the Deputy outlined, new windows and doors are installed, that could dramatically reduce the heating requirement of the home, which will hopefully then lower the bills. However, I accept that cost could still be an issue for some people. As well as looking at the supply side it is important that the upgrades look at the demand side - whether the insulation and windows are as good as they could be. Where possible, gas-fired systems tend to be cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly, but the gas grid does not extend everywhere and then people tend to opt for oil.

That is where biomass-type systems will tend to come into their own in the future and begin to replace oil. Currently, they tend to be more expensive to put in and for certain types of housing practical challenges arise in terms of storing biomass and feeding it into the system. It is something we are in transition towards and the points are well made. Unfortunately, without details of that particular scheme, that is probably as much as I can say.