Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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518. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide a breakdown, by county, of money awarded under the better energy homes scheme, since 2009. [19624/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Better Energy Homes Scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) under the Better Energy Programme. Better Energy Homes provides a financial incentive to private homeowners who wish to improve the energy performance of their homes. Fixed grants are provided towards the cost of a range of measures including attic insulation, wall insulation, heating systems upgrades, solar thermal panels and accompanying BER. In March of this year I announced increases of between 25% and 50% in the grant levels awarded to householders under the scheme. In addition, a bonus payment has been introduced for householders that complete three or more energy efficiency improvements.

The importance of improving our energy efficiency for reducing our harmful emissions cannot be overstated. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday published its report on Ireland's Greenhouse Gas Emission Projections 2014-2035. The report finds that significant additional effort is required by Ireland to meet our 2020 emissions targets, particularly in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Currently, emissions from the residential sector account for 10% of our total emissions. The report highlights the importance of the Better Energy Programme in delivering the emissions reductions necessary in the residential sector to 2020.

A breakdown on the amount of grants awarded under the Better Energy Homes Scheme on a county by county basis from 2009 is provided in the following table: