Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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553. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of commercial buildings that have applied for retrofitting grants from the State; and this number as a percentage of the total number of commercial buildings in the State. [43115/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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There are no direct grants available for retrofitting of the approximately 109,000 commercial buildings in Ireland. However, a wide range of policy and financing initiatives addressing the barriers to retrofitting works in the commercial sector have been implemented in recent years. The main policy focus is on the promotion of new business models to deliver energy efficiency projects through Energy Service Companies, Energy Performance Contracts and other models where payment to service providers is linked to energy savings achieved. The National Energy Services Framework provides a comprehensive suite of tools to facilitate organisations seeking to implement projects through Energy Performance Contracts and alternative models; information in relation to the Framework is available on the website of the SEAI at . In conjunction with the National Energy Efficiency Fund, these novel approaches to identifying and delivering energy savings have the potential to unlock major energy savings in commercial buildings.

My Department will revert to the Deputy directly with more detailed information on the full range of supports available to the commercial sector.