merrion street

Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, today said that thousands of families can look forward to warmer homes and lower heating bills this winter. The Minister was speaking in West Dublin as she visited local authority homes where energy efficient upgrades are taking place.

“Last June I announced a €50m programme aimed at upgrading local authority homes. Over the next three years the energy efficiency of 25,000 local authority homes will be improved. This will result in lower energy bills and warmer homes for thousands of families.”

“When the scheme was launched four months ago I was determined to see work beginning in the shortest possible time. Working closely with local authorities across the country we’ve managed to achieve that goal and I’d like to acknowledge their role in kick-starting this scheme. As we can see in Corduff this morning Fingal County Council are on the ground, working with local contractors, and making a real difference. By the end of October Fingal County Council had completed more than 1300 homes and nationwide a total of 4,477 homes have benefitted from this funding to date. Our target for 2013 is 5,000 homes and we’ll exceed that target and are well placed to meet the 2014 target of 12,500 homes.”

“There is a very strong jobs stimulus aspect to the scheme. The €50m investment has the capacity to create or sustain approximately 1000 jobs. In Fingal, and across the country, community-based groups are delivering the energy efficiency measures and providing real employment and training opportunities in the local community.”

Speaking at the event Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Kieran Dennison explained how Fingal County Council hopes to be the first local authority in Ireland to have all of its housing stock insulated to the highest standards in the current year. ‘This will be a tremendous achievement which will benefit our tenants in terms of warmer homes and reduced energy costs’, the Mayor said. “The Council would like to thank the officials of the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government who provide invaluable assistance with this and other projects.”

Note for Editors:

Planned implementation of the €50m energy efficiency scheme will see:

· 2013 - €10m investment – 5000 homes

· 2014 - €25m investment – 12,500 homes

· 2015 - €15m investment – 7,500 homes