The number of Irish families unable to heat their homes has more than doubled in the past year because of low incomes, high fuel costs and poor housing, according to new research.
Friends of the Earth say we are being failed by Government plans to tackle the energy crisis and reduce fossil fuel reliance.
The leading Irish charity commissioned 32 experts across housing, poverty, climate and energy, to probe grants available to help people retrofit their homes alongside policies to protect the vulnerable.
Read more: 10,000 homes in Ireland to get help with energy bills as €2.5m fund is launched
But the research found subsidies are skewed towards more well off homeowners, leaving many at risk of energy poverty out in the cold.
Clare O’Connor, Energy Policy Officer at Friends of the Earth, said: “Families who can’t afford to pay their energy bills aren’t in a position to invest in expensive retrofitting measures.
“Government should be going much further.
“Retrofitting for low-income families in inefficient housing needs to be a top priority.”
University College Cork Sustainable Energy Professor Hannah Daly agrees.
She told us: “Many people are tied to using smoky fuels like coal and peat for warmth, but these cause air pollution that damage health.
“Homes heated by fossil fuels are also a large source of greenhouse gas emissions.
“There is a great opportunity to address those three major challenges – energy poverty, air pollution, and climate change – together, by making clean and low-carbon energy affordable for everyone.
“If that is not done, people will be left behind in our path to sustainability and we will not have a just transition.”
The Government has committed to halving carbon emissions, partly through retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030.
But Friends of the Earth says their research shows further policy changes are needed.
Jerry Mac Evilly, Head of Policy at Friends of the Earth, said: “Ireland does not have sufficient safeguards to protect against price volatility as a result of the heavy role of polluting fossil fuels, like gas and oil.
“While warmer months may now offer a temporary reprieve for some, there is a major risk the situation will deteriorate later in 2023 given high inflation and continued high energy costs.
“It’s clear household fossil fuel dependence cannot be allowed to continue.
“The research report shows a change in approach at all levels of Government is urgently needed to ensure Ireland responds to the climate and energy price crisis in a manner that respects Sustainable Development Goal pledges to ensure ‘no one will be left behind’ and to ‘reach the furthest behind first’.”
Friends of the Earth has made 49 recommedations to Government, including prioritising increasing eligibility for the SEAI free retrofitting scheme, zero interest/low cost loans or other models of financing retrofits, community energy advisors, street-by-street insulation programmes and district heating systems.
They would also like to see more ambitious targets for the retrofitting of social housing, regulations to force landlords to ensure a minimum energy performance standards in rentals.
They want the Fuel Allowance to be redesigned, €20 added to social welfare, an Energy Poverty Act that defines energy poverty, sets legally-binding targets to reduce it and founds an independent energy poverty advisory council and a Just Transition Commission to give greater public awareness to the State’s commitment to integrating social justice with climate action.
It comes as the European Parliament voted to revise its Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to help citizens decarbonise homes and buildings.
Fine Gael MEP, Seán Kelly, said: “The obvious answer is to renovate our buildings, where possible, so they consume less energy and are capable of using cheaper and greener renewable sources.”
Green Party MEP Grace O Sullivan said: “If we invest in better standards for homes and businesses we can insulate our buildings from the cold and insulate our pockets from future shocks and energy poverty.”
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