Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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79. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the amount expended by his Department in each of the past five years to date in 2021 on lighting and heating costs in tabular form. [59698/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The table below sets out the amounts spent by the Department of Defence over the past five years on electricity and heating costs in relation to its buildings at Newbridge, Roscrea, Renmore and Dublin.  The figures provided reflect the apportionment of costs arising from shared usage of buildings in Renmore and Dublin with other Departments.

There is no separate itemisation of lighting costs available within the costs incurred for electricity. Therefore, electricity costs includes all forms of electric usage (i.e. printers, IT systems, lighting, etc.).

Variations in cost arise from one year to the next for a variety of reasons. 

70% of energy consumption in the Department's Newbridge building is IT related. All Department buildings remained open throughout Covid19 restrictions. While civilian staff had an option to work from home, Defence Forces staff continued to attend in the Department's Headquarters in Newbridge. As a result any reduction in energy consumption was minimal.

The cost of electricity for business has been steadily increasing over the last two years.

The cost of heating fuels varies annually as delivery of fuel (i.e. Kerosene, Wood Pellets or LPG) is demand driven. As a result annual expenditure will vary for the Department.

The Department assumed ownership of Wood Pellet expenditure relating to its Newbridge building from OPW during 2017 and 2018 was the first full year where all Wood Pellet expenditure was assigned to the Department. 2019 also saw the introduction of LPG to Renmore building which is a significant cheaper fuel option to Kerosene oil.