'State must act' as 2,800 die in cold houses every year
Thursday June 26 2008
Various Government departments need to work together to tackle the problem of fuel poverty among the elderly which is causing an additional 2,800 deaths annually, an Oireachtas Committee was told yesterday.
The All-Ireland body, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) heard while there was a general commitment to addressing the problem there was no leadership.
Income
Fuel poverty occurs when people live in cold, damp houses and is defined as when a household needs to spend more than 10pc of their income on energy in order to maintain an acceptable level of heat throughout their home.
Senior Policy Adviser Helen McAvoy told the Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs that the Central Statistics Office figures to May 2008 show an 11pc increase in the cost of home fuels in the past year. She said in an era of rising fuel prices and increases in the number of vulnerable households made up of people living alone, older people and lone parent families, government leadership on this issue could not be more urgent.
Structure
"In the absence of a designated structure fuel poverty is falling between a number of stools and the formation of an Inter-Departmental Fuel Poverty Group, similar to the model in place in Northern Ireland, is necessary to tackle this problem.
"An inter-departmental group should be government-led and co-ordinate activities between government departments in terms of the implementation of social welfare, energy and housing policies relevant to fuel poverty."
- Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
