The programme for Government addresses insulation of homes in the section under climate change and the environment. People who receive fuel allowance, and those meeting other criteria, can have their homes insulated under the warmer homes scheme. With just half the year gone, the budget for insulation of homes has been totally used up. This scheme is very important to the people of west Cork and throughout the country to help them to cut down on the use of fossil fuels when their homes are insulated. Will this Government provide funding for the much-needed scheme so that it can continue until the end of the year for the rest of the waiting list and so we can meet our environmental targets?

This is a free scheme, so everyone who applies can be considered. It has not used up its budget but nonetheless there is no doubt that there are pressures on the funding and it has to manage its resources carefully to stay within budget. It is a very popular scheme because it is 100% funded by the State. As the Deputy knows, the Government is considering, as part of its climate action plan, an approach that would look at the aggregation of a number of properties so that we would have a better area-based and easier to use scheme in future.