Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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449. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the total budget for all environmentally friendly schemes his Department administers in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38873/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I secured €29.4m in Exchequer funding in Budget 2017 for the environment and waste management areas of my Department, an increase of some €9m on the comparative 2016 allocation.

I am also responsible for making allocations from the Environment Fund, which generates revenue through the landfill and plastic bag levies that is ring-fenced for environmental purposes.  In 2016, a total of €40.5 million was allocated from the Fund, and allocations for 2017 will be decided shortly, based on projected revenues for the year.  Allocations from the Environment Fund in 2016 supported, inter alia, waste schemes, environmental research and development, the Local Agenda 21 Scheme, and Environmental NGOs.  Details of expenditure from the Environment Fund is available in the published annual accounts of the Fund which are available at the following website address http://www.housing.gov.ie/search/sub-topic/environment-fund.

Expenditure on "environmentally friendly" schemes is not strictly confined to the environment or waste areas of my Department. For example, in 2017 an increased allocation of €100m will expand the Better Energy Scheme and will introduce new measures such as the Renewable Energy Scheme. Within this, a record €25m will be ring-fenced to support the Better Energy Communities Scheme.