Thousands More Jobs Could be Created By Greenloan Scheme
Updated : Jun 2, 2009
A new nationwide scheme aimed at creating thousands of jobs in the clean tech sector has been launched.
Conor Lenihan, TD, Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources today officially launched a nationwide scheme expected to generate thousands of new jobs in the clean-tech sector over the next 6 to 12 months.
The main focus of the Greenloan Home Energy Savers Scheme is to create significant employment opportunities in local communities throughout Ireland by grouping homeowners to avail of large discounts in upgrading their properties.
Over 250 clusters comprising thousands of homeowners in all 26 counties have already been created under the scheme, which was originally piloted in 2008 as part of the pilot phase of the SEI Home Energy Saving Scheme (HES).
Speaking today Minister Lenihan said: “My Department has made available almost EUR50 million to the Home Energy Saving Scheme for 2009. This is expected to fund in excess of 30,000 home energy upgrades this year alone and generate a large amount of much needed employment in the current economic circumstances.â€
Scheme Administrator Mary Stewart pointed out that an estimated 800,000 euro was injected into the County Mayo economy during the eight-week pilot scheme. “Over 115 homes with an average investment of 7,500 euro underwent upgrades, which were carried out by 40 separate contractors throughout Mayo. If the same numbers occur on the national scheme as on the pilot, we can expect to create in excess of 4000 jobs in the next year.â€
For more on the Greenloan Home Energy Savers Scheme, including an interactive map identifying existing clusters throughout Ireland, see greenloan.ie.
