Claim that kids are missing school due to fuel poverty

Fuel poverty is leading to sickness among city children who are then forced to take days off school because their parents cannot afford to heat their homes.

Mairéad Farrell, a city councillor, says she has been inundated with representations from people struggling to heat their homes, and pay for repairs to heating systems.

Cllr Farrell of Sinn Féin that heating has been the number one issue this winter – and this year hasn’t been as cold as others.

“I was absolutely shocked the number of people who have contacted me about heating issues this winter,” she said.

“It is absolutely awful that children are missing school because of sickness that results from not being able to heat homes. I’ve had a lot of people contacting me saying they do not have money to repair radiators, and others who have been in touch and their boilers are broken and they can’t afford to fix them.

“I was shocked the number of people who were in touch about this. Obviously this is my first time as a Councillor, so maybe it happens every year but I was shocked by the extent of it.”

Cllr Farrell said in some instances children were absent from school because of sickness that was directly related to heating being broken in homes. In many cases, the heating was broken long-term, which in turn caused problems such as green-mould and dampness which exacerbated health issues, including asthma.

“It is awful; just truly awful. There’s also the issue of children coming out of the shower into a cold house, and it’s freezing. It is a serious issue.”

Cllr Farrell has requested a log from the City Council of the number of call-outs made to social houses this winter relating to heat problems.

However, she said the issues with fuel-poverty was also prevalent in the private sector where many struggling families were finding it difficult to heat their homes, and pay for repairs to boilers and radiators.

Cllr Farrell says that there is a scheme, the Warmer Homes Scheme, where private homeowners can avail of insulation to their property for free.

The scheme is open to people whose homes are built before 2002, and who are in receipt of fuel allowance or family income support or job seekers allowance. The jobs that can be claimed free of charge under the scheme are: attic insulation, cavity and wall insulation, draught proofing and hot water cylinder jackets.