asked the Minister for Energy if as an immediate means of conserving energy he will introduce a scheme of grants for insulation of domestic and commercial buildings.

I will be carrying out a very early review of the possible elements to be included in future energy conservation programmes and I propose to give particular consideration to the question of a scheme covering insulation.

There are a number of questions, including the methods and costs of administration, which must be reviewed before a decision can be taken.

I might add that, at least in the case of "first-phase" insulation, that is, where there is no existing insulation, the cost of providing a reasonable degree of lagging and so on can be recovered through energy saving in a short period of time. The case for incentives of a financial nature is, therefore, in certain categories not compelling. Information on the savings that can be achieved by insulation is readily available from a number of sources including my Department and the IIRS.