Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 895: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount allocated to local authorities under the national retrofit programme in 2009; the amount of the budget that was spent; the amount allocated to the scheme for 2010; if the allocation includes unspent funds from the 2009 allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1836/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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As part of a national energy efficiency programme, a new retrofitting initiative was announced in May 2009 to facilitate local authorities in improving the energy efficiency of authority owned apartment complexes and vacant dwellings. Each local authority was provided with an allocation proportional to the number of vacant stock in the area from a national fund of some €20 million, and was requested to provide an energy efficiency plan for the year. Funding was provided on a co-funded grant per unit basis to a maximum of €15,000 or 75% of the total cost of the works, whichever is the lesser, and included a broad range of works from insulation and air tightness remediation to replacement of windows, doors and boilers. Under the initiative, my Department approved energy efficiency improvement works to some 1,155 units across the country with a view to achieving an average rating of C1 in remediated dwellings. Given the requirement to finalise allocations, prepare energy efficiency plans and complete procurement, substantive work under the initiative only commenced in the second half of the year and, accordingly, local authorities envisaged some carryover of activity into 2010. At end-2009, my Department had recouped almost €11 million to local authorities under the initiative.

The annual provision for the retrofitting initiative has increased significantly this year, with some €40 million available. Authorities will be informed of their provisional allocations for 2010 in the coming weeks.

In parallel with this retrofitting initiative, my Department is also supporting a number of demonstration projects for the retrofitting of energy efficiency improvements to existing local authority dwellings, with a view to building up the expertise and experience of local authorities in delivering better energy returns in their stock. To that end, the Department will continue to support projects at Glover Court in Dublin City, Georgian buildings in Limerick City and Sun View flats in Cork City, with funding of €5m available in 2010. The former two projects are at an advanced stage of planning and design, while works have already commenced on the Sun View flats project.