Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Communications; Energy and Natural Resources the progress made in the target to increase energy efficiency in the public sector by 33%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37891/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The national energy efficiency action plan, NEEAP, sets out 90 actions which are already under way, or will be taken in the period to 2020, to achieve the national energy efficiency target. The Government has set a target of 20% across the economy and 33% in the public sector. The savings identified in the action plan represent approximately €1.6 billion in avoided energy costs for the economy in 2020.

My Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, are setting up a comprehensive monitoring and reporting system whereby all energy usage in the public sector will be accounted for and progress will be systematically recorded. This system will be fully in place next year, which will enable tracking of progress on an annual basis. In the public sector, the most significant cost cutting and energy saving potential lies in improving the energy performance of new and existing buildings and facilities. This will be a key focus of the new national retrofit programme. The public sector programme of SEAI is the main delivery mechanism for energy efficiency actions by public sector bodies. This comprehensive programme includes a public sector support programme, which provides assessments and training to all public sector bodies and a grant programme to support energy efficiency measures.

I announced last month financial support for 20 projects under the public sector and industry energy efficiency fund, which are all scheduled to conclude this year. These projects are anticipated to deliver €4.5 million savings over the lifetime of the measures. In addition, the SEAI is working closely with public sector bodies, including An Garda Síochána and the HSE, to accelerate development of their energy efficiency strategies. Public sector bodies are also actively working with SEAI to deliver energy savings in water services, public lighting and information and communications technology, ICT. Participants have made savings of up to 20%, and have identified future saving opportunities of up to 40% to 50%. The work already under way has highlighted the very significant energy savings achievable across the public sector with commensurate reduction in energy costs for all public bodies.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I had hoped to receive an answer in percentage terms. If the target is to reduce energy use by 33%, how much has been achieved so far? Is it 3%, 4% or 10% of the 33%? I am not so much interested in the figure; I just want to know that when the Government sets a target such as this, it knows what the target means. When the Minister sets a target of 33%, I assume he knows what 1% or 100% is and, therefore, he must know how much of the target remains to be achieved in percentage terms.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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For my own Department-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Here we go again with a long waffly speech.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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No, the Deputy asked for figures and facts.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Shock me.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The energy bill for my Department over the past three years has reduced by 42% and last year our energy use decreased by 12.7%. That is an example. We looked through our buildings. I attended a series of meetings with departmental officials to discuss the work the SEAI is doing. The Deputy can make hand signals but he asked-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister should answer the question. How much of the 33% target has been achieved?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I am answering. In my Department, the figures are specific.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is not answering. He is waffling aimlessly as usual.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Those are real figures and reductions for which I am accountable in my Department.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister does not know how much of the target he has achieved. This is a joke.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We have to transfer that progress across the rest of the public service. The work of SEAI, which I listed, will achieve that.

When the national retrofit scheme launches next year, it will be a crucial element because it will be aimed at public buildings as well as households and commercial buildings. I have seen in my area that is possible to achieve savings of 33%. It is a good economic opportunity and the scheme will be one of the key elements. The Deputy may laugh at the savings but they are real.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am laughing at the target of 33%, not the savings. The Minister does not know what is his target.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Expenditure has reduced from approximately €600,000 to €350,000.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister set a laudable target of 33% but he does not even know what the target means. He could waffle away for days on end if people could stay awake listening to him but he still does not know what percentage of that target he has achieved. How can we have a Government that sets such targets and does not even know what the they mean? It baffles me.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Will the Minister accept it is not good enough to set targets and then have no mechanism to deliver on them? It is clear nobody is in charge and this raises a serious question over commitments made in the Government programme in an area such as this, which is crucial both in the context of energy efficiency and in meeting climate change targets that are required of us. Since this is part of the programme for Government, why is it taking so long for the SEAI to set up a monitoring unit, which will not be established until next year? The national retrofit programme was promised in last year's budget and, clearly, it will not happen until after this year's budget.

The Minister will run away from my final question because he will say it is not his area of responsibility. When it comes to energy efficiency and all the plans his Department produces, he must take an interest in the fact that local authorities have been grant aided for home adaptation. The take-up by them has been pathetic, even though the need is considerable. What is the Minister's view on that failure if he is to meet targets set by him, his party and Fianna Fáil?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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In discussions with officials of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the budgets will be allocated and spent this year. There is a time-lag. They have to obtain a BER certificate to sign off on the spending.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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That is because they have transferred to other local authorities. We have all done that. We know how the system works.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I pursued this and I have been informed money is being allocated.

We are at the start of a process and the SEAI is the key driver through its public sector partnership scheme. The authority has working groups relating to water services, public lighting and ICT energy use and they are seeing savings of up to 20% in the organisations with which they have worked as a result of the additional resources we have provided.

It has taken longer than I would like but the staff embargo was one of the reasons for that. We have overcome that and we are looking at providing further staff to the SEAI to allow it to get on with it. I would have liked to have done that sooner but the Department of Finance officials and others had to make sure we had the staff and resources available. However, we are making resources available at a time budgets are being severely cut and it is difficult to recruit staff. I am prioritising investment in the SEAI and energy efficiency because it saves money from the State's viewpoint. I stand over the savings in this regard in my Department as practical and real examples of helping the taxpayer cuts his bill.