Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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1801. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will consider putting in place public community energy advisors to engage and inform hard to reach energy users that would most benefit from energy efficiency and advice programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29104/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), my Department has created a range of supports to broaden the reach of energy efficiency schemes. Under the Better Energy Communities scheme a pool of funding is made available each year to community projects that encompass upgrades to homes, community facilities and local businesses. This year 47 communities will receive more than €26m in funding. Local energy agencies, who have been successfully working around Ireland in recent years to bring together communities, are involved with many of these projects.In addition, SEAI provides capacity-building assistance to communities through the Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) network. This is a support network dedicated to community organisations who want to develop a sustainable energy system in their local area. An SEC aims to be energy efficient, to use renewable energy where feasible and to develop decentralised energy supplies. The community can include all the different energy users in the community including homes, sports clubs, community centres, churches and businesses. At present there are 90 Communities in the network, with two more joining up this week.

SEAI has appointed a panel of experts to help these community groups. As soon as a community group joins the network a mentor will make contact with to see how they can help develop the SEC. For 2017, €700,000 in capital funding has been made available to support the SEC network and my intention is to develop a multi-annual pipeline for the scheme that will build capacity in communities to take on more ambitious sustainable energy projects and projects of scale in the coming years. I would encourage any community who wants to improve their technical capabilities and have support from the SEAI in planning and implementing their sustainable vision for their community to engage with the SEAI and the SEC scheme.

The list of regional mentors is set out in the table below:

The Warmth & Wellbeing pilot scheme, which offers deep energy efficiency upgrades to people in energy poverty who are suffering from respiratory conditions, was specifically established to reach vulnerable people through the health system and support them through deep renovation of their homes. Participants are referred to the scheme by health care professionals and HSE staff in those areas where the pilot is active. Officials from my Department are also working with staff from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to establish a new efficiency scheme targeted at participants in the Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme.

Through these and other new pilots in development I will continue to prioritise new and innovative methods of encouraging more people to take advantage of the benefits that energy efficiency brings.