Last month we sent a letter to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, regarding the worrying new DECC policy that will limit access to key energy efficiency SEAI community grants (see our letter here).
We had a fantastic response from the EcoMerit community, many of whom took action and sent their own letters to the minister.
We would like to thank our members for this response. The way that the EcoMerit Community has pulled together to tackle this issue and take it up with government as a united front demonstrates the inherent value of communities like ours in keeping government policy in touch with the needs of real businesses and real people. This brings into focus the importance of not restricting such communities by inhibiting their access to key community grants that can help them grow and flourish in a sustainable way that allows them to meet and exceed the government’s own Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Targets. See the environmental progress our community has made with the support of SEAI community grants here (https://ecomerit.ie/performance/)
Minister Eamon Ryan’s office has now responded to our letter and you can view the response here. While it states that there is no intention to exclude anybody (which is good) it makes no commitment to address the issue (which is not so good). We intend to follow up on this on behalf of the EcoMerit Community and a response letter is currently being reviewed by our Oversight Board. Watch this space for updates.
28/05/21
