Central heating is to be installed in 45,000 local authority houses across the country that are without adequate heating systems.
Priority is to be given to homes occupied by elderly people. Some 7,600 of the 45,000 local authority homes without heating systems are occupied by elderly people.
Announcing the programme in Tallaght, the Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Noel Ahern, said the programme will make a meaningful difference to the daily lives of people in 45,000 homes, "especially in the colder winter months".
He said: "We have made progress in recent years in local authority housing towards correcting the mistakes of the past. Through programmes like Ballymun Regeneration, the €7 million sinks-and-precinct improvement works scheme in Dublin City and this central heating programme, we are turning communities around.
"Our renewal strategy will help to close the gap between the most deprived areas and the rest."
As part of the central heating investment programme, €15 million has been provided for 2004. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will provide €12 million with local authorities providing a further €3m. Similar arrangements will be put in place over the coming years that will complete the programme.
The current stock of occupied local authority dwellings totals some 104,000. Since 1994, all local authority homes have come with central heating systems as standard.