Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak briefly on this motion. While I welcome that the Government has decided finally to do something about conserving energy, I cannot congratulate it on what it has done so far. The Government is almost two years in office, almost as long as the Government of 1995-1997 led by the former Deputy John Bruton. When one considers what that Government did compared with what this Government has done, one can understand why we on this side of the House cannot support this motion.

I would like to follow on from what Senator Doherty had to say about wall insulation options. The outline of the policy states that to insulate the walls of their home, owners may choose to have insulated a cavity wall, internal or external, depending on the construction of their home, and that home owners should seek professional advice about which option is best. Incidentally, we are speaking in this regard of less well-off people. A home owner must have a building energy rating, BER, assessment done of his or her home. This assessment costs in the region of €500 and applicants are entitled to a grant of €200 towards the assessment. Less well-off people are being asked to find €300 towards the cost of a BER assessment of their home. In many cases these people are not in a position to do this.

Some time ago a motion was tabled by this side of the House calling on the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Government to ban the building with cavity blocks of houses in Dublin, of which there are thousands. The resources provided under this scheme are but a drop in the ocean in comparison with what will be required to insulate the thousands of houses in the city built with such blocks. What is the choice for those with houses built with cavity blocks? They must have either internal or external installation. The report demonstrates that external insulation is by far the most expensive whereas internal installation is a little cheaper. Cavity walls are common in most rural areas, although the planning authority in my county would not allow one to build a house with cavity blocks and would make sure 4 in. solid block with insulation was used.

It is incredible that the Government fought against the motion to stop the building of houses with cavity blocks. It will be almost impossible to insulate those houses in Dublin because the insulation will have to be undertaken internally or externally, the two most expensive options. This is what has happened with thousands of houses which have been built in the past ten years. The scheme will cost a fortune. The list of those who will carry out the assessments shows only one agency in Dublin although thousands of houses must be assessed and insulated. This scheme is very poorly thought out.

Where is the cut-off point for the low paid? Is it at the minimum wage, €30,000, €40,000 or €50,000? Is it with regard to the condition of the house and whether it is poorly insulated or with regard to the age of the house and whether it was built five, ten or 20 years ago? This is not spelled out very well. The rural organisations that are carrying out these assessments contain good people who voluntarily give up much time. It is they, at the end of the day, who will decide what funding is dished out to successful applicants. Where will the line be drawn? Is it in regard to the age of the house or the income of the families?

Will local authority houses qualify for the scheme? Given the new schemes announced by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in recent years, particularly in terms of the existing stock of houses, the council housing stock is worst off at this time. There are very few, if any, schemes being put in place by the Government to upgrade the existing local authority housing stock. The Minister of State with responsibility for housing recently put €20 million in place to rent new houses that have been built by developers in recent years but this will be to the detriment of the local authority housing stock.

The Minister of State might explain what other schemes could be put in place such as in regard to wind energy and domestic turbines. Many houses or groups of houses would install domestic turbines if grant assistance were available towards this. The Government could go down this road. The new oil in this country is wind and wave energy but the Government is moving too slowly in this regard. We must seek out the opportunities that exist at present. There is no point talking about them but until now it has been all talk and no action. The people are waiting for action and require that it be taken.

Many people are involved in energy conservation throughout the country and while they may not be qualified to carry out building energy rating, BER, assessments, in most cases they know exactly what must be done. Those contractors should be allowed to carry out the work. These assessments will eat up a considerable amount of money. In some cases, an assessment will cost up to €500 and the less well-off will find it difficult to get this money in place to avail of the grant, whether it is for attic insulation or the many other insulation ideas the Government has put forward.

Like my colleagues, I see this as a step forward but I do not believe any great congratulations are due to the Government. There is very little action and what action has been taken is too little, too late. I congratulate the Surface Power company from Tourmakeady, County Mayo. The chief executive of the company is John Quinn who is very innovative and has done tremendous work in this area in recent years. We should have more companies of this type and such people should get every assistance and grant available to help them put forward more ideas in regard to energy conservation.