Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his plans for the development of alternative energy sources such as geothermal heating and solar panelling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7253/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The multiannual financial package for renewables announced in budget 2006 includes a grant aid package for the domestic sector which will provide for individual grants to install renewable energy technologies, including solar panels, geothermal heat pumps and wood pellet boilers. My Department, in conjunction with Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, is developing the necessary detailed measures to roll out the new programme, which will be announced shortly.

Under the SEI house of tomorrow research, development and demonstration programme, financial support is already directed at encouraging developers of housing, both new-build and refurbishment, to incorporate design and technology features which deliver significantly superior energy and CO2 performance. A total of €5 million was expended on research and development, international collaboration, and public research to December 2005, with outstanding commitments of €10.5 million.

To date, there have been 55 housing demonstration projects and 2,650 homes have benefited from this programme. The technologies installed include: condensing oil and gas boilers, in 1,984 homes; solar water heating, in 687 homes; heat recovery ventilation, in 633 homes; ground source heat pumps, in 392 homes; and wood pellet boilers, in 344 homes.

SEI also runs a low-income housing programme to assist with the establishment of a national plan of action to address the issue of fuel poverty in low-income households. This provides the context for co-ordinated action to ensure such households have access to adequate cost-effective heating and hot water, and energy efficient lighting and appliances. A total of €3.6 million has been expended on more than 8,000 homes since the programme commenced. There are eight operational community based organisations which actively completed homes in 2005. An additional four groups were approved in December 2005 and they are currently recruiting staff and undergoing training. It was announced in the budget that an additional €2 million is to be made available under the low-income housing programme to tackle fuel poverty.