Councillors slam ban on heating grants for pensioners

A NEW EU law stopping local authorities giving grants to the elderly to replace their oil and gas heating systems was widely condemned at last week’s county council meeting.

The new EU laws, which came into force in Ireland on 1 January, mean that Carlow County Council and local authorities across the country can’t give the Housing Aid for Older People Grant to pensioners to replace a gas or oil heating system.

It means that broken boilers now cannot be replaced under the scheme. Previously, Carlow County Council allowed the grant for replacing boilers and a large number of applicants availed of this funding annually.

Cllr Tommy Kinsella raised the issue and expressed the concern there is about this new EU directive. Cllr Charlie Murphy agreed and asked how anyone could have allowed this law to go ahead. He accepted it was an effort to reduce carbon emissions but added that “OAPs are not going down the road of heat pumps”.

“This is very unfair and has to be looked at again … as far as I’m concerned, it’s discrimination,” said cllr Murphy.

Cllr Willie Quinn described it as a “law against the elderly, the people of our country who have worked all their lives”.

He called on the four government TDs in this constituency and its 11 councillors to take action, adding that it should not be brought in at national level.

Cllr Ken Murnane stated that this new law would have “serious repercussions”, adding there had been no notice period and that it would also have a significant impact on our health services. “It’s a system that will leave old people without heat,” he said.

Cllr Murnane also pointed out that to instal an air-to-water heating system, a house must have an A2 rating, which most homes occupied by older people would not have. This would therefore involve significant upgrading of a home at a significant cost.

Fully supporting the points raised, cllr John Pender said it was “not practical to instal an air-to-water heating system” in the vast majority of homes that had previously applied for this grant. “We have to look at this again; we can’t leave our most vulnerable people without heat,” he added.

Chief executive Coilín O’Reilly accepted that this was a “serious matter” and that discussions had been held between the county and city managers’ association, an organisation involved in the housing aid for older persons scheme.

“It is an EU directive that came into force on 1 January 2025 so we have very little choice in it, but I accept we have to work out a way to make it work,” he stated.

Mr O’Reilly added that the directive means local authorities can no longer purchase new fossil-fuel boilers, but second-hand boilers could be used; however, he accepted this would ultimately lead to inflated costs and availability issues.

He added that the air-to-water system required an A2 rating on a home and currently the SEAI has an 18-week wait time to get such an upgrading.

“As a group, we do have to come up with a solution. We have to – we cannot leave older people without heating. We have to advocate and come up with a solution,” he said.