Vol. 533 No. 4
142 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if there is any financial help available to a person (details supplied) in County Monaghan for insulation of a house, as she has been advised by Monaghan County Council that there is no help available; the plans he has for introducing grant aid for this type of work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9132/01]
There are no grants available from my Department specifically for the purpose of insul ating houses. However, many effective measures to improve energy efficiency in houses can be achieved at negative or zero equivalent annual cost to the householder. The national climate change strategy, recently adopted by the Government, provides for intensification of educational and awareness programmes being undertaken by the Irish Energy Centre to promote these options and to fill the existing information gap for consumers.
There are, however, a number of targeted options currently available to assist especially vulnerable groups such as lower income households and elderly persons to secure necessary improvement works to their houses. These include the local authority house improvement loan scheme, the essential repairs grant scheme and the improvement works in lieu of local authority housing scheme, all administered by local authorities, and the task force on special housing aid for the elderly which is administered by the local health board.
I have no proposals to introduce an insulation grant.
