Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As part of the Just Transition proposals for the midlands region, Budget 2020 has made provision for an additional €20 million to fund energy efficiency upgrades to local authority houses in the affected midland counties. This funding is in addition to the €25million, which my Department is making available in 2020 for energy efficiency upgrades to the existing local authority housing stock nationwide.

The budget for 2021 and beyond is not yet decided and will be subject to the annual estimates process.

In relation to the additional €20 million, my Department is currently working with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in relation to the roll out of a targeted programme for the midlands region. A sub-group of the Retrofit Taskforce is working to determine the parameters of the scheme, including finalising the counties to be included. This process will take into consideration the counties that are most affected by reductions in peat harvesting, the location and numbers of local authority housing stock in the midlands that could benefit from the programme.

My Department recently met with some of the midland local authorities in relation to this initiative to get an understanding of the level of social housing stock available for retrofitting. It is envisaged that the scheme will be rolled out to the relevant local authorities in early 2020.