John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1106. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources how long it takes for an application under the warmer homes scheme to be processed and approved in the County Dublin area and, once approved, how long it takes to have the works completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10387/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme on behalf of my Department. The scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures to households that are vulnerable to energy poverty. It is an important element of the Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty that was published in February 2016.

Under the scheme householders can benefit from a range of measures to improve the energy efficiency of their home. Measures available include draught proofing, attic insulation, lagging jackets for hot water tanks, low energy light bulbs and cavity wall insulation and are completely free of charge to the home owner.

To date in 2016 SEAI has completed works on 366 homes in the Dublin area. There are a further 323 applications from Dublin on a waiting list.  The current average waiting time on the scheme in Dublin is under 80 days.

Once an application has been received a home must be inspected by SEAI’s appointed survey team to determine what works are suitable.

Once a survey has been completed homes are assigned to SEAI’s panel of appointed contractors within a number of days. Completion of works is then dependent on contractor logistics; typically, however, completion by contractors occurs within 4 weeks of completion of the home survey.