Labour Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, has announced that he has secured €30m under the Government's Stimulus Package to increase investment in the Better Energy and Warmer Home energy efficiency schemes to a total of €57m.

These schemes fund energy efficiency improvements by householders as well as upgrades in the homes of the elderly and vulnerable, making the homes more comfortable, healthier and more cost effective to run while also creating jobs in the construction sector.

These programmes will assist in the realisation of energy saving of over 600GWh next year – a significant contribution towards reaching our 2020 energy efficiency targets.

Additional funding will be provided for the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme in 2014. The programme provides energy efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households. More than 15,000 homes are expected to benefit from an energy efficiency upgrade under this programme in 2014, bringing the total number of homes supported under the programme to more than 120,000 since it was launched.

-- Advertisement --

A further 17,000 homes will receive energy efficiency upgrades in 2014 under the Better Energy Homes programme which provides grants to homeowners towards the costs of insulation and heating system upgrades. This will bring the total number of households that have received a retrofit measure under this programme to over 170,000 – delivering energy savings of more than €60m each year.

Mr Rabitte said: "The continued investment by Government in energy retrofit is a key support to smaller firms in the building sector and the funding next year will support about 3,000 full time jobs and make further progress in addressing energy poverty.

"It is additional to Department of Environment spending on energy measures in local authority homes and to the €70m fund I have established to encourage similar works in public and commercial buildings, which will also boost employment."

Recognising the growing importance of the digital economy, Minister Rabbitte also announced that he was setting aside €5m in 2014 to assist in the rollout of a national trading-online voucher scheme, aimed at getting 2,000 small Irish businesses trading online.

"There is an enormous opportunity for Irish businesses in the online space and significant risks if they do not develop online trading platforms. Irish consumers spent approximately €3.7bn online last year, of which 70% was spent outside Ireland. Less than 1 in 4 small Irish businesses are trading online. Research undertaken for the European Commission indicates that traditional businesses which have a meaningful online presence grow twice as fast, export twice as much and employ twice as many people.

"In Ireland, where the digital economy represents 4.4% of GDP, there is a real opportunity for small businesses to grow. My ambition is to ensure that a much greater proportion of the online spend stays in Ireland, supports Irish businesses and creates jobs in this country. For that to happen many more Irish businesses need to offer services online."

(CD/JP)