Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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508. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department will be reviewing the warmer home scheme to include additional categories of low-income households in the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31138/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department. The scheme provides energy efficiency upgrades free of charge to people who meet the eligibility criteria. Typical measures available under the scheme include attic and cavity wall insulation, draught proofing, lagging jackets and low energy light bulbs. To date the scheme has provided energy efficiency upgrades to 120,000 homes.

Since the scheme is 100% Exchequer funded it is designed to be available only to those in most need of Government assistance. To determine this with complete accuracy SEAI would need to know the condition of a person's home, including its energy efficiency level and heating system, that person's family circumstances and their household income level. However, it would not be practical or efficient for SEAI to perform this assessment for each applicant to the Warmer Homes scheme. Therefore eligibility for the scheme is determined through the use of proxy indicators, principally the National Fuel Allowance. These proxy indicators provide an acceptable approximation that allows SEAI to find and identify people in energy poverty without having to resort to a cumbersome, expensive and intrusive administrative regime.

Eligibility for the National Fuel Allowance is determined by the Department of Social Protection through use of a means tested income assessment. Everyone in receipt of a non-contributory state payment is accepted as satisfying the means test. In addition, if a person is on an employment support scheme or getting a Back to Education Allowance they are entitled to the Fuel Allowance. Any household with a combined weekly income of up to €100 above the maximum State Pension (Contributory) is also eligible for the Fuel Allowance.

In addition to the Fuel Allowance, anyone in receipt of the Family Income Supplement, Job Seekers Allowance for over six months (and with children under 7 years of age) or anyone in receipt of the One Parent Family Payment is also eligible for the Warmer Homes scheme.

These additional eligibility criteria were selected as there are health and well-being consequences to living in a cold and damp home and children can often be particularly vulnerable to these conditions. In addition, lone parent families suffer from a particularly high deprivation rate in Ireland. In the Government's Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty, I have committed to ensuring that the eligibility criteria for the Warmer Homes scheme remain consistent with the latest findings on deprivation in Ireland. This is consistent with the aim of ensuring that the limited resources available to the scheme are targeted at those in most need.