Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley.

There are a range of significant and far-reaching measures in place to support the quality and environmental performance of the housing stock. To ensure the stock of 125,000 local authority-owned dwellings is maintained to a high standard, achieves improved levels of energy performance and yields an important fuel poverty dividend, an energy efficiency retrofitting programme for the social housing stock was introduced last year. By year end, energy efficiency improvement works to more than 1,150 units across the country had been approved. To underpin further progress this year, the allocation for this programme is being more than doubled to €45 million. Activity under the programme is targeted at both vacant properties, where access can be gained quickly and works completed without delay, and local authority apartment complexes where the nature of the works will not require tenant relocation.

Significant supports are also available to private home owners who wish to improve the energy performance of their homes. The home energy savings scheme was launched nationwide in 2009. The scheme, administered by Sustainable Energy Ireland, provides grant assistance to home owners for energy efficiency retrofitting measures, including attic and wall insulation, high efficiency boilers, heating controls and building energy rating assessments. At the end of 2009, there were 40,000 approved applications in the system, representing a total take-up of more than 80,000 measures.

The warmer homes scheme, which was launched in 2000 with the aim of addressing the relative thermal inefficiency of low-income private sector housing, also saw a considerable increase in funding and activity in 2009. Some €15 million in Exchequer funding was allocated to the scheme last year, with an additional €5 million contributed by the ESB and Bord Gáis Energy. This scheme provides for the installation of a range of energy efficiency measures at little or no cost to the home owner. The measures include cavity wall insulation, attic insulation, boiler lagging jackets and other draught proofing measures. The increased level of funding ensured that 19,113 homes benefited under the scheme in 2009.

A total of €1.8 billion has been invested by the Exchequer in providing new supply water infrastructure under the water services investment programme in the past ten years, including €168 million for a specific sub-programme on water conservation designed to monitor water use and losses throughout the supply networks, fix leaks and replace defective pipes where repair is no longer an economic option. This provides the platform for intensive investment in mains rehabilitation under the next water services investment programme for 2010 to 2012, being finalised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The investment programme does not extend to funding or providing grants for replacement of individual services connections or other measures relating to single households or premises. This is similar to the provision of an electricity supply to a house where the internal wiring is the responsibility of the owner or occupants, not the supplier.

Other grant schemes, namely, the housing adaptation grant schemes for older people and people with a disability, may facilitate necessary grant assistance being provided in appropriate cases to carry out insulation works and works to private water supply piping. It is a matter for individual local authorities to determine what works, including replacement of lead supply pipes, are eligible and to decide on priorities.

The Government has in place a range of measures to address many of the issues raised by the Senator as part of its overall ambition to improve the quality and environmental performance of housing,