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Deputy Ó Cuív said: "The government has made drastic cuts to home energy schemes in the Budget for next year, less than 7 months after unveiling their much-anticipated jobs initiative which was heavily dependent on job creation in the home energy sector. Far from creating jobs, the cuts to home insulation grants in this Budget 2012 will put around thousands of jobs at risk.
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"As of last week, grants for internal wall insulation have been slashed by 64% for apartments or mid-terrace houses, and 46% for semi-detached and end of terrace houses. For external wall insulation, there are cuts of 55% to the grants available to homeowners in apartments or mid-terrace houses and 33% for semi-detached and end of terrace homes. Grants for attic insulation have been cut by 20%, as have the grants for heating controls and boiler upgrades."
The biggest cuts are in the grants available to apartments and mid-terraced houses, which shows the Government is singling out lower income families for the greatest cuts.
He continued: "The grants in this sector are self-financing as the extra VAT, PAYE, USC and PRSI as well as savings in Social Welfare far exceed the amount of grant paid on each house. This is another example of the government’s policy being bad for the people, bad for energy conservation and bad fiscally for the economy."
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