Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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521. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department has applied for funding for broadband or energy projects under the European Fund for Strategic Investment; if so, the projects that were approved for funding; the total funding allocated to each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22668/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Beginning this year €84.5m will be provided in co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme.

My Department also continues to explore ways to avail of EU funds in the form of financial instruments, which would be re-payable to the EU. It is necessary to bring forward projects of significant scale, with robust business cases, for such EU funding. Exploring options to develop projects of sufficient scale is a key objective of a number of energy efficiency pilot schemes, which have either begun, or are becoming operational in 2017, particularly in the residential sector. This arises because alternatives to Exchequer  funding are required to fund the scale of renovation necessary to meet long term emissions reduction targets.

To date, the National Broadband Plan has secured a commitment of €75m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Once the NBP procurement phase is complete and the commercial rollout phase begins, various options for funding are likely to be examined including the European Investment Bank (EIB), Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI).