Vol. 576 No. 1
212 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 456 of 18 November 2003, to which the Minister of State for Housing responded, stating that the information sought could be got from the Department, the reason a grant scheme for innovative houses is available only to developers of ten houses or more and that individuals constructing their own homes are ineligible for such grants. [28911/03]
The house of tomorrow is a research and development support scheme, not a home improvement grants scheme as such. It is seeking projects of sufficient scale and impact to influence wide application of the practices and technologies demonstrated.
The scheme, operated by Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, is directed at encouraging developers of housing, both new build and refurbishment, to incorporate design and technology features which deliver significantly superior energy and CO performance. By targeting developers of schemes of houses, from the private or social housing sectors, the aim has been to establish in a number of years a nationwide network of accessible examples of more sustainable energy design and technology practices. With the accompaniment of other promotional measures by SEI, this is intended to encourage a sufficient degree of market replication, without subsidy, to elevate energy performance standards across the wider housing stock.
