Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Keilthy not just for the opening statement she read here this morning, but for the report the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has completed. This is an issue of huge interest to this committee both from a social protection perspective and a rural development perspective. Ms Keilthy highlighted in her opening statement the impact of energy poverty on urban versus rural households. There is a disproportionate impact on rural households.

In the report, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul makes the point that oil-fired central heating is a big challenge because of the significant cost associated with it. We have seen a significant increase in the cost of oil-fired central heating and home heating oil. Four in ten households across the country are reliant on that. Do the witnesses have any data on solid fuel? One of the challenges faced in rural Ireland, and in particular across the midland counties, is that there is still a substantial number of households that are very reliant on solid fuel. There has been a significant increase. Naturally enough, changes such as the ban on smoky coal will have a financial impact in relation to this. Could the witnesses comment on the discrepancy they see between urban and rural? How much of that is made up of the types of fuels used and the fuel choices? Can they comment on that?

On a broader issue, I note that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has focused - and rightly so - on the financial impact this has on families. We saw in this morning's headlines that there were more than 700 people who were lying on trolleys in our accident and emergency departments. When I was energy Minister, I commissioned a piece of work from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We are still waiting on the publication of the report. However, the related headline figures have shown that people in fuel poverty who have chronic health conditions, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, and asthma, have seen a significant improvement in their health outcomes by carrying out the retrofitting of their homes. It improves the warmth of their homes and reduces the costs of heating their homes. It makes their homes warmer. As a result of that, these people have ended up getting sick less often, being admitted to hospital less often and being prescribed fewer medicines. When they were admitted to hospital, their stays in hospital were shorter and they were discharged far quicker back into their homes, rather than into step-down facilities. As we know, in terms of the figures we saw this morning, a considerable number of that is made up of people with chronic illness and particularly chronic respiratory conditions who spend disproportionately longer in hospital.

The reality is that people within lower-deprivation categories and those who are on lower disposable income are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions. They can become disproportionately sicker as a result of those chronic conditions. Could the witnesses comment based on the work they have done, not just from a financial perspective, but from a health perspective, on these households?