Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 528: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his proposals to mainstream the pilot project, warmer homes initiative, in the Waterford constituency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27002/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Budget 2006 included provision of a sum of €2 million, through the Department of Social and Family Affairs, for the delivery in Waterford, in 2007 by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) of a fuel poverty initiative supplementary to the Warmer Homes Scheme. The initiative includes high efficiency central heating as well as substantial insulation measures to address whole house energy efficiency, to be applied within the Waterford city and county area. The package of measures provided under the Waterford Initiative thus represents a significant extension to both the level and cost of interventions applied to address fuel poverty.

The Waterford Initiative is being delivered on an introductory basis to approximately 400 owner occupied homes. It does not include local authority homes, since they are separately covered by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government programme. The research component for the Waterford Initiative will assess the effectiveness of the proposed interventions in addressing fuel poverty. The results from this research will be available next year and will inform any future programme decisions. There are no current plans to extend the programme beyond its current remit.