Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 December 2019
380. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the capital expenditure by his Department in County Louth and east County Meath by location and facility provided or commenced in each of the past four years; the location and purpose of each such expenditure; the new and improved services provided as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53839/19]
View answerThe contract to deliver the National broadband Plan was signed on 19 November. This provides for approximate investment of €33m over the 25 years of the National Broadband Plan State Intervention providing high speed broadband to 8,245 premises in Co Louth. This also provides for approximate investment of €76m over the 25 years of the National Broadband Plan State Intervention providing high speed broadband to 18,989 premises in Co. Meath. The most significant component of my Department's investment in Co Louth and County Meath is in respect of the Better Energy Homes and Better Energy Warmer Homes schemes which are administered on behalf of my Department by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) under the Better Energy Programme.
My Department also provides funding in a number of other areas and details of the funding provided under all of the schemes are set out in the following link:
Better Energy Communities supports energy efficiency upgrades to mixed projects of homes, community facilities and businesses in a local community; projects under this scheme can cross county boundaries and therefore a breakdown of costs per county is not available. €82.32 million has been allocated to the Better Energy Communities scheme from 2016 to 2019.
The Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme was launched in 2017 as a time bound pilot to investigate the challenges and opportunities of deep retrofit in Ireland. The Pilot, which provided 50% funding for energy upgrades to an A BER rating and 95% funding provided for low-income households, closed for applications on 19th July 2019. Applications were only accepted from Service Providers with projects including 5 or more homes; with homes spanning across counties. Therefore a breakdown per county is not available.
