merrion street

Minister Rabbitte today announced that the Government had committed to €76 million in support for the Better Energy Scheme for the year 2012. He noted that during the coming year the scheme would fund measures to upgrade the energy efficiency of a further 17,000 low income homes as well as offering grant support to encourage many other home owners who will invest in the retrofitting of their own homes.

The Minister commented that "The Better Energy programme is designed to support the energy efficiency upgrades of one million homes, businesses and public buildings. Since we reopened the scheme after last week’s budget there has been a strong flow of applications which will imply both healthier homes as well as a significant level of construction sector employment."

Speaking at an Institute of Public Health event to launch a research report entitled Fuel Poverty Older People and Cold Weather: An All-Island Analysis", the Minister pointed out that the Government had recently published Ireland’s First Affordable Energy Strategy "Warmer Homes" which detailed a range of measures, across several Government Departments that will address the underlying issues of energy poverty.

This strategy can be downloaded here.