Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with the Deputy. It is beyond dispute that the home efficiency home heating scheme has great merit. It ticks all the boxes in terms of energy efficiency and energy saving, making a contribution to meeting our carbon targets and, third but by no means least, job creation. Job application in that area is very significant at a time when there are so many unemployed workers in the construction sector. It is my intention to continue the scheme although I am in the process of examining the development of perhaps a wider scheme, which would encompass some of the existing schemes like the warmer homes scheme and so on, and rebranding it. All that is left for me to do now is to find the money. That is the hard bit. In terms of not only domestic dwellings but public buildings, there is a huge saving in the medium term for the State and considerable potential for job creation in this area. I hope when the Minister for Finance brings in his jobs budget that this area will be well represented in it.

I have not yet made up my mind or examined the issue raised by Deputy McGrath in terms of the tax relief provided in the last Finance Act in this area. My understanding is that it is a relief at the standard rate. This issue is similar to the debate with Deputy Stanton on microgeneration or, perhaps more pertinently, the argument in the pensions industry that if people were given a tax break at the marginal rate, there would be a very significant uptake. However, if the rate was changed to the standard rate, what would be the uptake and what would be the effect on the pensions industry and the people employed there?

Similarly in this respect, would domestic dwellers, for example, incur at this time the necessary spend for a 20% tax break or could that money be used more productively? That is the issue I have to examine. There is no doubt but that in terms of energy saving, import substitution, the jobs dimension of the scheme, and our 2020 targets and thereafter, this would make a significant contribution and there is a jobs dimension to it. Whether an estimate of the tax foregone might be better used elsewhere is something that I have not yet made up my mind about but the short answer to Deputy McGrath's question is that I agree it is a worthwhile scheme as it is operating and it is my definite intention to continue it.

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