Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 931: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the amount allocated to the home energy saving scheme 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. [1837/10]

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 932: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the amount allocated to the warmer homes scheme 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. [1838/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 931 and 932 together.

The Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme is administered by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) and offers financial support for homeowners wishing to make energy efficiency improvements. The scheme was allocated €49 million in 2009. Applications began to be accepted in late March, following the necessary work to establish the Scheme. By end-December SEI had processed 40,724 applications. Some €16.26 million was paid out by SEI by the end of the year.

The Warmer Homes Scheme (WHS) is also administered by SEI and is the primary mechanism for alleviating the key underlying cause of fuel poverty which is the thermal inefficiency of houses. Some €20 million was provided for the scheme in 2009, which included a contribution of €5 million from ESB and BGE. This enabled energy efficiency improvements to be made to over 19,000 vulnerable homes at a cost of €14.518 million in 2009.

Funding in 2010 of €13 m for the Warmer Homes Scheme and €29.5 m for the Home Energy Saving Scheme was announced on Budget Day together with €50m for the National Energy Retrofit Programme. The carryover of unspent funds from my Department's 2009 Vote into 2010 is as set out on page E. 64 of the 2010 Estimates for Public Services and Summary Public Capital Programme. The application of the carryover to my Department's Vote and the 2010 allocations for each of the Energy Efficiency Programmes will be published in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2010.