Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Most of the issues I wished to raise have been covered. What engagement does SEAI have with nursing homes? We know the heating and electricity costs for nursing homes are huge and SEAI could engage with Nursing Homes Ireland and the voluntary sector. I was happy to hear Deputy Coffey relate how he got the day centre over the line. I was involved with a nursing home and when we tried to get SEAI to do something, we ran into bureaucratic obstacles. There were questions about the structure of the nursing home and who owned it. Given that it was a voluntary nursing home, it did not qualify in some way. I ask the witnesses to consider how things could be made simpler.
On communications, I ask the witnesses to send something directly to us about the free service. SEAI is to be commended on all the work it is doing. From my experience, anybody who engages with SEAI has said it was positive.
Community resistance to renewable sources of energy is very unfortunate. I have been dealing with wind generation for a long time and I believe we have probably hit a new low with the communities dead-set against it. The positive message about what wind energy generation will do for our carbon credits and reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is lost on individual householders. While their minds are not set against it, the message about climate change seems to have gone out of the whole debate. It is all about aesthetics and everything else. However, in the long run every one of us has a responsibility to do something in this area. Each local authority has adopted a wind energy strategy, but there could be a different strategy across the border in the next county. However, climate change does not know any borders, which seems to be the difficulty we have. We certainly have a major challenge.
I would like to see SEAI's role developed in that national debate. As the independent authority, it is in a position to get the facts out there because huge mistrust has crept into all this debate. People think we are being developer-led again and they see no benefit for them, which is regrettable.
I return to the issue of the stoves. I have been contacted by a number of local authority tenants who had an oil-fired central heating system installed. Given that they are on very low incomes, they find it very hard to maintain the oil heating system. The local authority seems to have adopted the policy that if a tenant has a particular heating system, that is a fait accompli. We have had arguments with the local authority about installing wood-burning stoves, which is what the tenants want to do. However, the tenants are not able to come up with the money to buy the stove and pay for its installation. I am sure the local authorities would be able to carry out the installation, but that would come at a cost to them. Can SEAI engage more with the local authorities about that? It would be very beneficial to the tenants and lead to the kinds of energy savings we are trying to achieve.
Kilkenny County Council has advised the matter is being dealt with by the housing section of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. However, it should probably also go to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The two Departments need to come up with a practical solution to the issue. It seems quite simple. SEAI could have a role to play in funding. It would help many local authority tenants.