Rural Ireland must be justly included in climate change plan

WHY are we fighting over turf? In recent weeks, culminating in this week’s climbdown on the planned ban of the commercial sale of the fuel, it became part of a culture fight, once again playing into the lazy narrative of urban versus rural.

What clearly is needed is a transition to more energyefficient homes that will help us achieve our climate change commitments.

One way to make homes more efficient is to upgrade ancient boilers, but it is not without a significant drawback.

As we report today, the Government, through the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, is spending €118m this year alone on replacing inefficient boilers in low-income households. But here’s the thing, these boilers almost exclusively are for use with oil or gas, when air-towater heat pumps are more environmentally friendly and much cheaper to run.

The SEAI says such pumps are considered only for houses that are suitably insulated. So why

isn’t that the strategy? Instead of increasing dependence on the volatile price and environmental impact of fossil fuels for years to come, we should be insulating first to allow heat pumps become dominant.

Older rural dwellers do not have the money themselves to fully insulate their homes. The dismissal of their needs by the well-insulated – in every sense of the word – urban Green brigade displays tone deafness, especially when the Green record of kneejerk reactions to climate change is so patchy. We all remember that party’s 2008 shift to emissions-based motor tax that saw diesel power seize the lion’s share of new car sales, only to later learn that nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel were more immediately detrimental to respiratory health than carbon dioxide.

What we need now is a medium-term plan to ensure that the just transition really is just – and that means bringing rural Ireland onside with

genuine incentives, not hectoring it from an A-rated home in a city suburb.

Human beings operate on instinct, and if that instinct is to simply stay warm, lectures on turf use in the absence of any credible alternative will never work. Nor, indeed, will spending €118m this year on boiler replacement.

We must ramp up insulation, and then install heat pumps. To use a metaphor from the bog itself, it is time to once again put the horse before the cart.

SUMMERTIME LET’S ENJOY IT

ACCORDING to the Gaelic calendar today marks the first day of summer. Met Éireann disagrees and now puts that at June 1, but tradition dies hard, especially when there are signs all around us.

As we report today, we are at the peak time for the return of migratory birds. The air is warmer and grass that has looked limp and listless is suddenly knee-high again.

There is promise floating on the air. Covid rates are falling and hopefully will continue to do so as life moves outdoors.

We badly need to enjoy a carefree summer and that means renewed commitment to providing outdoor socialising spaces, well patrolled and with adequate bins and portable bathroom facilities.

Cork led the way with pedestrianisation to provide outdoor dining, a similar plan for Dublin’s Capel Street is an excellent one. We have been cooped up for long enough, so let’s get out there to eat and drink, to laugh and chat. Let’s all enjoy the summer we deserve.