'Nearly a dirty thing to go and buy a bale of briquettes or bag of turf'

Laois people could be stopped and searched for turf, a Sinn Féin Cllr predicts, while urging more money be given to homeowners to deep retrofit.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley has succeeded in getting an invite sent to the Sustainable Energy Association of Ireland (SEAI) to come to county hall and explain what grants they give, before turf is altogether illegal.

"As a council we're doing great work with the deep retrofitting with the older houses but I have flagged up for a number of years that for anyone who owns their own home it's next to impossible to get the grants through the SEAI, from people I'm talking to. They have to be carrying out at least insulation, they can't just get it for a heating system. 

"We're rolling out a valuable scheme and if you take O'Moore Place as an example, and St John's Square, half those houses and more are privately owned. 

"No way in any life would the residents of those areas be able to carry out the deep retrofitting to those homes that's needed, because of the cost. 

"I've asked our outgoing CEO if he would invite the SEAI to a meeting. I've asked it at The Cube when I was on the board on several occasions. We need to know what sort of grants the public can access. I strongly ask that they are invited in so we can ask those questions .

"I see a crazy headline in one of the papers about fossil fuels, now with the new laws that are being handed over, the councils will be able to stop people to see if they have turf. That's coming down the track. It's nearly a dirty thing now to be going out and buying a bale of briquettes or a bag of turf. 

How we have gone to the stage where it's nearly illegal and at the same time, we're saying to people to think about retrofitting their home at huge costs and the grants are not accessible. Several people have said to me 'I've applied for the grant and I wasn't successful'. We need to know why not. 

Could we bring in a scheme for those who own their own houses. Those people in John's Square and O'Moore place will have very modest incomes. They bought through the tenant purchase scheme of the day. They'll never be able to get €70,000 or €80,000 or more to deep retrofit their homes. What's the alternative? Now they're going to be brought to court over buying turf? We have to get real," Cllr Dwane Stanley said.

Simon Walton is the Acting CEO of Laois County Council said he would have no problem sending an invitation to the SEAI to come to county hall.

Cllr Barry Walsh's job is surveying houses for retrofits.

"I don't think it's an issue that the grants can't be got. The issue is the cost. There's grants available. I've done thousands of these houses and I know plenty of other surveyers and contractors have done the same. For a house in O'Moore Place they do need a lot of work. I don't think grant levels are high enough. I would welcome SEAI coming in," he said.

Cllr Aisling Moran asked "why are we not applying for EU grants so we can help people with grants to do up their private houses?".

Acting Director of Services Paul McLoughlin answered that Laois County Council's environment staff recently ran a week long event giving advice to the public on solar panels, retrofits and heatpumps. 

On their website, the SEAI say that they give free energy upgrades to homeowners receiving social welfare.

"We deliver free energy upgrades such as attic, cavity and solid wall insulation and, in some instances, windows and heating systems, to homeowners who receive any of the following welfare payments.

"Fuel Allowance, Job Seekers Allowance with a child under 7 years of age, Working Family Payment, Domiciliary Carers Allowance, Carers Allowance and living with the person you are caring for, Disability Allowance with a child under 7 years of age."

However they say works can take up to two years.

It can include attic insulation, cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, internal wall insulation, secondary work such as lagging jackets, draught proofing and energy efficient lighting, while "new heating systems and windows are occasionally recommended".

A recent UN report estimated that Ireland’s degraded peatlands emit 21.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. 

While Bord na Móna has stopped industrial turf cutting, and the sale of turf is now illegal, private plot owners are still allowed to cut and burn their own turf. However they do it using commercial machine companies. The European Commission has referred the Irish State to the EU Court of Justice over a failure to protect peat bogs from continued machine turf cutting.