Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 169: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will consider introducing a grant to facilitate the installation of geothermal heating in all houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5878/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Housing grants schemes are generally the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I have neither plans nor funds to introduce a grant scheme of the type suggested in the question.

Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, which was established as a statutory agency in May 2002, implements initiatives on renewable energy and energy efficiency on behalf of my Department. Under SEI's House of Tomorrow research development and demonstration programme, heat pumps are one of a number of energy technologies eligible for support in the context of an integrated set of measures comprising a whole house energy efficiency solution. This programme is open to demonstration projects involving clusters of five or more homes. Funding is available on a limited scale for whole house measures at a rate of up to €5,000 per house in such developments.