Minimum standards of thermal insulation apply to local authority dwellings commenced after 1 July 1976. These standards are set out in a statement issued by the Government Information Service on 7 August 1975. The Draft Building Regulations, published in November 1976, contain detailed and comprehensive provisions in relation to thermal insulation which when the regulations are made will apply to new dwellings. In the meantime a new outline specification for private grant-type houses is being prepared in the Department and will be published in the near future. It will contain provisions in relation to thermal insulation.
The Department's involvement in relation to thermal insulation has so far been directed at efforts to secure minimum standards of thermal insulation at the construction stage of new dwellings. The technical standards already published are therefore directed at builders rather than home-owners who wish to improve thermal insulation in their own houses. Booklets and brochures in relation to improving home insulation have not yet been published by the Department as there is a very plentiful supply of such booklets, brochures and other information available from sources in the private sector and from other bodies, for example, the Electricity Supply Board, An Foras Forbartha and manufacturers and retailers of thermal insulation materials and systems. It is not proposed at present to introduce a special scheme of grants for insulation in existing dwellings.