Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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175. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the issue of turf sale and consumption further to previous parliamentary replies; his views on whether the acceleration of the retro-fitting programme before any curtailments on turf would be a better approach; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28690/22]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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176. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will consider deferring his proposed regulations to ban the sale of turf until further transitioning can be put in place to change existing heating appliances from solid fuel to heat pumps in existing homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28722/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 175 and 176 together.

I remain committed to introducing new regulations on the use of solid fuels for domestic heating in Ireland as announced last September to ensure that the most polluting can no longer be made available on the Irish market and to assist the public in transitioning to less polluting alternatives.

Retrofitting and transitioning to heat pumps can help reduce air pollution from the burning of solid fuels, and this Government remains committed to such measures. Budget 2022 allocated €368 million – an increase of 17% over 2021 – for Energy Transformation. This includes €202 million from carbon tax revenue for residential and community retrofit schemes (over 22,000 home energy upgrades in total). More than half of the funding will be for free upgrades for low-income households at risk of energy poverty.

However, new regulations are also necessary as each year some 1,300 people die prematurely in Ireland due to air pollution from solid fuel burning. It is estimated that there are over 16,200 life years lost, while many people also experience a poor quality of life due to the associated short-term and long-term health impacts of this form of pollution.

Throughout the course of three different forms of public consultation, undertaken over the past 18 months, the direction of travel has been made clear. To address this public health and environmental crisis, new solid fuel regulations will be introduced across a range of fuels to ensure that the most polluting will no longer be available for general sale on the Irish market and that as particulate matter comes from burning not only bituminous coal but other solid fuels, that we must now regulate to improve the standards of all fuels available on our market. 

Government has been equally clear that turf cutting by citizens for use in their own homes is a traditional activity across many peatlands and that measures are required to reduce the emissions associated with burning peat, but which respect these traditions.

The regulations which will ultimately be agreed by Government will ensure, that while measures are introduced to enhance the quality of our air, they will not impinge upon traditional local practices associated with sod peat. .