Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

This year, we are putting in €76 million. I am doing this for a number of reasons. The first is because the previous Government left no money after it when it went out of office. That is the big reason. There is no money. Second, prices are now more competitive than three years ago. One can get this work done in the market place at a discount and we have discounted some elements of this package. Third, I want to meet the demand that exists as far as I can.

When grants were first introduced, the intention was to stimulate the market and to stimulate interest in energy efficiency and retrofitting.

It did that very effectively. Now that it is done, the Government intends to move towards a pay-as-you-save system, as I have explained before. It is possible for us to put in place a financial model that will enable householders to cause this work to be done in their homes out of the savings that will accrue from better thermal efficiency. That is a much better approach than relying on a grant-based Exchequer-funded system.

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