Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the standards which are expected of local authorities and other social housing with regards to insulation and heat efficiency; if all council housing should be BER rating B at least; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6867/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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In recent years significant efforts have been made to ensure that all new construction projects, including social housing units commissioned by local authorities or by approved housing bodies, are designed and built to high standards of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. To that end, Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Energy) of the Building Regulations 2011, and the accompanying Technical Guidance Document L, requires that all new housing, including social housing: has 60% lower heat energy demand than a similar house built to 2005 standards; requires the installation of boilers with a minimum seasonal efficiency of not less than 9 0 % ( condensing boilers); requires the mandatory use of renewable energy sources (a minimum of 10 kilowatt hours per square metre per annum).

Under the Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities are allocated capital funding each year in respect of a range of measures to improve the standard and overall quality of their existing social housing stock. The programme includes retrofitting measure s aimed at improving the energy efficiency of older apartments and houses by reducing heat loss through the fabric of the building and the installation of high-efficiency condensing boilers. While the objective is to improve the general standard of a local authority house and increase the Building Energy Rating (BER) to as high a level as possible, with C1 being the target figure, it may not be practicable to bring every dwelling to this standard, especially in the case of older stock. Exchequer grants are not payable in respect of the achievement of G or F ratings.