Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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193. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to make further funding allocations available in 2016 for Waterford City and County Council towards the energy bureau of Waterford Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18620/16]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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194. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if and when he will make funding available under energy efficiency and renewable energy technology for a project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18622/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 193 and 194 together.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Communities scheme on behalf of my Department. This scheme aims to support and encourage community based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of homes, businesses and community facilities in a local area. Local Authorities actively participate in this scheme. To date the scheme has supported the upgrade of more than 12,000 homes and several hundred shared community facilities, including sports clubs, community centres and childcare facilities.

Under this year's scheme, €20 million in grant support has been awarded to 38 community groups. This will provide for energy efficiency upgrades to more than 2,600 homes and almost 300 community and commercial facilities. The total investment in energy efficiency, including funding from local communities themselves, is almost €48 million, which will support an estimated 700 direct and indirect jobs right across the country.

If the Deputy is referring to the application made by Waterford Energy Bureau, on behalf of Waterford City and County Council, for funding under this year's Better Energy Communities scheme, I would like to note that SEAI have informed me that their application was high quality but was unfortunately unsuccessful due to the very high standard of applications.

All applications to the Better Energy Communities Scheme are assessed in a competitive process operated by SEAI and neither I, nor my Department, have any function in relation to the evaluation or selection of projects. This competitive process is fully transparent and I would urge any unsuccessful applicants to contact SEAI directly for feedback in relation to their application, which may assist in any future applications for support.

Any homes that are owned by an approved housing association, such as the Saint Vincent de Paul, are eligible for inclusion in the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme, which, based on defined eligibility criteria, provides a range of energy efficiency measures to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty. The homes of the scheme beneficiaries are retrofitted free of charge, thus making those homes more energy efficient. The measures available include draught proofing, attic insulation, lagging jackets for hot water tanks, low energy light bulbs and cavity wall insulation. Since the scheme commenced in 2000, 123,174 homes around the country have received energy efficiency measures at a cost to the Exchequer of €161.75m. €16.5m has been allocated to the scheme for 2016.