Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Question 312: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding an application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal which was approved by Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta under the warmer homes scheme but has yet to be allocated to a contractor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33014/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers Better Energy: Warmer Homes on behalf of my Department, which is delivered through a range of Community Based Organisations (CBOs), augmented by a panel of private contractors. The energy poverty strand of Better Energy aims to provide energy efficiency improvements to low-income homes unable to afford the cost of implementing such measures. This will enable over 20,000 low-income homes to benefit from energy efficiency retrofit measures this year. Queries in relation to individual applications are an operational matter for the SEAI and dedicated hotlines for both schemes are available (Better Energy: Warmer Homes hotline - 1800 250 204 and Better Energy: Homes hotline - 1850 927 000). In addition, the SEAI has recently established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members, which can be sent to oireachtas@seai.ie and will be dealt with promptly.

The SEAI advises that all CBOs are required to upload details of applicants to Better Energy: Warmer Homes to the national database. SEAI also advises that there are challenges associated with the liquidation of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta (MFG) and the Authority is endeavouring to reconcile all homes registered for Warmer Homes with MFG against this database. All homes previously registered with MFG identified on the national database will be delivered through a panel of private contractors in order to address those homes with works outstanding, subject to available resources.

My officials have requested that the SEAI contact the homeowner in question directly to follow up on the application. MFG applicants should be encouraged to contact the SEAI hotline directly to ensure that they are on the national database.

There has been a significant uptake in applications and interest in the scheme over the last three years. The success of the scheme has led to an unprecedented demand and a subsequent increase in waiting times. While surveys are carried out on eligible homes and a number of measures are identified, the SEAI has to prioritise lower cost measures, in order to address the maximum number of vulnerable homes.