Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I acknowledge what Deputy Ferris said about the importance of fuel poverty. I appreciate what Deputy Ó Cuív said because we debated these issues on Committee Stage and I undertook to accommodate what Deputies Ferris and Ó Cuív were trying to do if I could. We have come up with a reasonably clever way of meeting them. For that reason, I cannot accept Deputy Ferris's amendment, No. 1, or Deputy Ó Cuív's amendment, No. 5, which he intends to withdraw.

Section 14 provides for the creation of an energy efficiency fund, which is provided for in order to allow contributions from energy suppliers to be reinvested in energy efficiency and meet the specific objectives set out in subsection 5. On Committee Stage, Deputies Ferris and Ó Cuív suggested that section 14 be amended to provide for a mandatory obligation requiring that the proposed energy efficiency fund shall provide for specific measures for the alleviation of fuel poverty. On Committee Stage, I offered to accommodate the Deputies while stating that I did not want to be overly prescriptive. In order to accommodate the Deputies, I am proposing a number of amendments, which have been drafted following discussions between my Department and the Office of the Parliamentary Council. The key amendment is No. 6, which provides that the energy fund be used for the alleviation of energy poverty. The wording of the section has been agreed by the Office of the Parliamentary Council and that is as far as I can go. Amendments No. 2, 3 and 7 are minor, technical amendments that are required in view of amendment No. 6.

With regard to fuel poverty, I launched the affordable energy strategy in November 2011, which sets out the range of tangible, time-bound measures to tackle and alleviate energy poverty in a cohesive, cross-governmental approach. Moreover, there is already a Better Energy, Warmer Homes scheme in place, administered by the SEAI, which has provided energy efficiency improvements in over 80,000 homes since it was launched in 2006. The 2012 allocation for the energy poverty strand of the better energy programme amounts to just over €17 million, which will enable some 17,000 low-income homes to be retrofitted this year under the warmer homes scheme. The programme for Government signalled the Government's intention to move away from grants by the end of 2013. The proposed pay as you save scheme is considering the issue of how to incentivise people on low incomes, who typically fall into a definition of energy or fuel poor. I intend, in the near future, to bring a memorandum to Government on the issue of pay as you save.

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