Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his plans to provide grant assistance to community groups to upgrade their facilities to ensure improvements in the carbon footprint values of such facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33521/08]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department operates a range of initiatives, schemes and programmes supportive of community groups and to upgrade facilities. While these programmes do not specifically target improvements designed to reduce the carbon footprint of the facilities aided under these programmes, the improvements made to the facilities can serve to improve the energy efficiency of the facilities concerned. The key initiatives through which my Department provides support for improvements in community facilities are detailed below:

Under the Programme of Support for Local Community and Voluntary Groups, grants are available for locally based groups who wish to undertake small scale refurbishment works or projects to upgrade equipment in use in community facilities.

Under the new LEADER Programme, which will be delivered through Axes 3 & 4 of the Rural Development Programme 2007-13, funding will be provided for actions aimed at certain quality of life initiatives, specifically targeted to rural communities under the 'Basic Services for the Economy and Rural Population' measure. Although funding is not explicitly provided to ensure improvements in the carbon footprint values of community facilities, eligible activities under this measure does include the upgrading of general community and recreational infrastructure. In accordance with the LEADER bottom-up approach, applications will be processed by Local Action Groups contracted to deliver the Programme on my Department's behalf.

As the Deputy will be aware, the aim of the RAPID Programme is to ensure that priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion within the 46 designated RAPID areas. In this regard, the RAPID leverage scheme supports small-scale projects identified locally by the Area Implementation Teams in each of the RAPID areas. I introduced a further enhancement to this scheme in September of this year, which should have a beneficial effect on the environment. Under the Physical Environment Improvement Scheme 2009-2013, initiatives on waste and environmental management may be supported. Annual funding totalling €9.2m will be provided for works under this scheme, €4.6m from the RAPID leverage fund and €4.6m from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government through the relevant local authorities.

Information including eligibility criteria regarding the above initiatives, schemes and programmes, is available on my Department's website at www.pobail.ie.

Finally, in regard to islands development, my Department is examining, in cooperation with Sustainable Energy Ireland, the feasibility of developing alternative energy systems on inhabited offshore islands. As a first step, a design study is to be commissioned that will examine the potential of a wind powered low CO2 system with minimum energy imports. The study will investigate the potential cost savings for the consumer of an integrated system with respect to the current energy system.