A NEW EU law has come into force which prevents local councils from helping pensioners to repair and replace their gas or oil based heating systems when they break down, according to Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú.
Ms Ní Mhurchú said the moves by the EU Commission will stop local authorities giving grants to Irish pensioners to replace their oil and gas heating systems when they break.
Describing it as ‘cruel and petty’, the MEP has called on the European Commission to re-think these new EU laws which came into force in Ireland on January 1st.
Before January 1st, local authorities across the country could help our pensioners to replace a gas or oil heating system under the housing aid for older people grant.
This is a fund that local councils use to repair and improve the condition of vulnerable older pensioners homes in the community.
Vulnerable pensioners could get their broken gas and oil burners fixed or replaced. Under the revised directive on the energy performance of buildings, grants can no longer be allocated for heating systems powered by natural gas, oil or coal, she claimed.
As Ireland experiences sub-zero temperatures, Ms Ní Mhurchú has described this as an unintended consequence of what is otherwise a positive directive.
‘This EU law was agreed before my time. Most pensioners have gas or oil-based heating systems,’ she continued.
‘This grant helped them to repair them or replace them when they became old and obsolete. Ms Ní Mhurchú said she will raise the issue with the EU Commission.
