Minister called on again to explain home heating alternatives
Question raised at recent council meeting.
The council will once again write to Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan demanding he outlines what “alternatives” he proposes to replace turf and solid-fuel burning stoves and oil or gas boilers.
In a near re-run of a similar debate that took place only in October last year, Cllr Brendan Fay (Ind) said the request was being made in respect of knowing what “alternatives” there are for home heating to “mitigate against power outages which may affect everyday society”.
The Belturbet councillor said that living along the Border people had seen the price of a large bag of coal rise from €15-17 to nearly €50 amid the continuing cost of living and cost of fuel crises.
He said the situation facing many felt like a case of people being “hunted on three sides by wolves with a cliff edge on the other”.
The cost of electricity, he said, rose significantly over the past 12 months.
“What would happen when oil burners were dispensed with?”
“New homes,” he continued, are “being built with no chimneys”.
The jury meanwhile was “out” on air source heat pumps for domestic and commercial use, which he claimed can experience issues in cold temperatures, which can ultimately damage the system.
“People are really scared,” Cllr Fay told the January monthly meeting of elected members.
“Has he an answer past 2025?” he demanded of Minister Ryan, who has instigated a policy to a ban the use of fossil fuel burning boilers in new homes and installations in existing houses from that date.
Renewable rate
In a separate debate earlier at the same meeting, fellow Independent Councillor Shane P O’Reilly highlighted the rising cost of electricity supplied by Electric Ireland, which increased prices by 23.9% for customers from January 1, 2023
He said that looking at the bill showed that Electric Ireland’s supply was derived from 100% renewable sources. Cllr O’Reilly therefore questioned why customers of the utilities provider were being charged at the “fossil fuel” rate.
He suggested that, if customers were instead charged a renewable energy rate, costs would be lessened by as much as 70%.
“I say we send a letter to Electric Ireland as well,” stated Cllr O’Reilly.
Fine Gael’s TP O’Reilly, who had tabled the motion for debate back in October 2022, noted that the council had never received a response or acknowledgement from a letter sent then outlining their concerns.
“Maybe we’ll get one now.”