John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

——to deliver modern standards of energy efficiency. In addition, in parallel with this audit, €5 million will be provided next year to undertake a number of pilot retrofitting projects; the learning derived from these will play a major part in informing our approach to the wider roll-out of the programme, which will commence once the audit is completed. Not only will the ultimate national roll-out of the programme contribute in a significant way to the achievement of reductions in carbon emissions, it will also yield a vital fuel poverty dividend.

In addition to this essential need to deal with the legacy of the past, I am also determined that we look to the future and explore ways in which we can make greater progress on designing out the carbon impacts of new housing. Much has been achieved already with dwellings now required to deliver 40% greater energy efficiency on the standards applicable in 2005 and we intend to bring the improvement on the 2005 position to 60% in 2010. However, we now need to plan beyond that. We need to push the boundaries of environmental performance of housing further towards the goal of achieving zero carbon emissions.

To show further clear leadership on the part of the public sector, I have invited local authorities and voluntary/co-operative housing associations to submit proposals for the delivery of a number of demonstration projects in this area. The aim of these will be to deliver sustainable energy efficient housing developments in which homes will reach a minimum A2 building energy rating. Some €10 million will be provided next year, and again in 2010, to support these demonstration projects, which will significantly advance the knowledge and experience base in the design, construction and use of high performing energy efficient housing and promote wider awareness of the technologies involved.

I also very much welcome the additional funding provided in the budget for two schemes which are the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The home energy saving scheme, introduced this year, provides grants to householders to improve the energy performance of their homes, while the warmer homes scheme provides energy efficiency improvements to lower-income households in the private sector.

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