Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 13: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if there is any State scheme for elderly people that will enable them to make their homes more fuel efficient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4642/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The term "fuel poverty" has been described as the inability to afford adequate warmth in a home, or the inability to achieve adequate warmth because of energy inefficiency in the home. The primary contributory factor is the energy efficiency of the private and public housing stock. Problems in this regard relate to older housing, with poor insulation and draught-proofing or inefficient heating systems. All new housing, including social housing, is being built to modern efficiency standards. Local housing authorities are undertaking an ongoing programme to upgrade the older social housing stock and to provide better living conditions generally for tenants, including draught insulation and energy efficiency.

The role of the social welfare system in relation to this issue is primarily to provide income support. The main focus of Government policy is to increase primary weekly social welfare rates significantly in real terms, to enable pensioners and other vulnerable groups to meet their heating and other basic living needs more adequately throughout the year. In this regard, the significant increases in primary social welfare payment rates for pensioners and other groups for this year announced in the budget, and other increases in recent years, have improved their income situation considerably in real terms relative to price inflation generally.

In addition, there are a number of social welfare programmes to assist with heating costs specifically. Fuel allowances are payable during the winter heating season for householders who are in receipt of long-term social welfare or Health Service Executive payments. In budget 2006 I increased fuel allowance by €5.00 —€14.00 per week for eligible households — with an additional €3.90 per week being paid in designated urban smokeless fuel zones, bringing the total amount in those areas to €17.90 per week. These payments are made for the duration of the fuel season which lasts for 29 weeks from the end of September to mid-April.

Electricity and gas allowances are payable through the household benefits package. Expenditure by my Department on fuel, electricity and gas allowances for social welfare and other elderly customers was €109 million in 2005.

A special heating needs facility is available through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to assist people in certain circumstances with specific heating needs due to infirmity or a particular medical condition.

My Department is co-operating with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Sustainable Energy Ireland and the Combat Poverty Agency in an action research project those agencies are undertaking to improve heating systems and insulation in selected older private dwellings and to monitor the outcomes in terms of improved cost efficiency and household comfort and health levels.

The research project will be carried out in designated geographical areas this year where eligible persons will have an energy audit carried out in their homes. The energy audit will include energy advice to the household as well as remedial work such as the installation of roof space insulation, draught proofing, fitting of hot water cylinder lagging jackets and energy efficient light bulbs.

The project will evaluate the effects of the measures undertaken from the point of view of improved comfort levels, health effects as well as changes in fuel costs and carbon dioxide emissions. My Department will use the results of this project to assist with the development of future income support policy in this area.

In that regard, in the recent budget I have made a grant of €2 million to Sustainable Energy Ireland for the installation of housing insulation in houses experiencing fuel poverty and to enable further research to be undertaken into fuel poverty issues.