Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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65. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the role he envisages social enterprises performing in reducing Ireland's dependence on fossil fuels and, in particular, the impact this sector can have compared with conventional private enterprise. [44664/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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One of the central themes in the Green Paper on Energy Policy, published in May 2014, is citizen empowerment. Since its publication, the Department undertook a public consultation process which included analysis of over 1,200 written submissions and thirteen stakeholder seminars on the various priority areas highlighted in the Green Paper. A recurring message coming from both the written submissions and the seminars was the role that community energy and social enterprises could play in our future energy systems. The views submitted on this and other matters have been considered in the formulation of the Energy White Paper, which I am publishing tomorrow.

I believe that both social enterprise and private enterprise will have key roles to play in Ireland's energy future as we reduce our reliance on carbon intensive fossil fuels by delivering improvements in energy efficiency and increased deployment of renewable energy. In this regard, there are a number of schemes under the Better Energy Programme, which is administered on behalf of the Department by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), available to individuals, communities and businesses for sustainable energy upgrades.

The Better Energy Communities Scheme supports sustainable energy upgrades to buildings and facilities in the community sector as well as clusters of homes likely to be at risk of energy poverty. The scheme is open to a wide variety of actors. This includes public sector organisations, community and voluntary organisations, private sector actors and energy suppliers. The key is that each application has to demonstrate a partnership approach. Community action on energy conservation is a crucial first step for people to transform their energy use and take their own action to make our energy system more sustainable.

In 2015, the scheme received applications worth €45m from 74 projects. Successful projects have included upgrades to schools, community care facilities, fire stations, sports clubs, small businesses and homes throughout the country. A full list of the successful applications is available at: