Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Warmer Homes Scheme (WHS), which is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department, provides energy efficiency improvements to homes in, or at risk of, fuel poverty and is primarily delivered by 28 community based organisations (CBOs). The CBOs work in partnership with their local network of poverty and community support organisations including public health nurses, MABS and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul to identify and address vulnerable homes. Through this devolved model, each CBO is responsible for managing the applications in their own operational areas. Private contractors are also engaged to supplement CBO coverage and capacity in order to address the increasing demand for the scheme. Through these mechanisms the WHS has, to date in 2010, been delivered to 22,949 homes including 1,010 homes in County Waterford.

There is no pre-set amount of funding allocated to individual counties under the WHS, as it is a national scheme with a funding envelope which varies on a county by county basis annually. Activity levels in 2011 will be subject to the allocation for the scheme in 2011 and I have yet to decide on this which will be funded from the overall 2011 allocation for energy efficiency schemes of some €69.25m.

A dedicated WHS hot line - 1800 250 204 – has been in operation for some time and all queries, from scheme applicants and public representatives, on delivery dates for individual households and/or funding agreements are dealt with immediately. In addition, the WHS programme manager, Mr Michael Martin of the SEAI is available to deal with queries on 042 939 1548.