Independent MEP for Ireland South Michael McNamara has stated that County Council Planners need to allow chimneys again, even if that requires County Development Plans to be revised.
Following the damage of Storm Éowyn, up to 100,000 people across Ireland could be without electricity, heating, broadband, and other vital services until early February. In a statement issued on Monday 27th January, the ESB stated that it “anticipates that the vast majority of customers who lost power during Storm Éowyn will have supply restored by Friday 31st January. For the remaining customers, these will progressively have power restored over the course of next week – this could be as many as 100,000 customers.”
McNamara stated: “In the wake of Storm Éowyn, many are paying the price for the over-centralisation of the planning system, and its capture by well-intentioned idiots with no understanding of the reality of rural life. Thousands are without electricity and heating. While most new homes have state of the art electric-powered heating systems, these homes have now been left in the cold, some looking out the window at a fallen tree that they can’t even burn for badly needed heat.
The so-called ‘green agenda’ has left them shivering with little alternatives due to strict regulations. This reliance on electricity alone needs to be examined.”
McNamara added: “Those looking to build one-off houses throughout Ireland need to be allowed to build a house that common-sense determines should be able to be heated by solid fuel or oil, if necessary, as is their right. If they wish to heat their home with a stove and chimney, they should be entitled to do so.
Building control regulations on new one-off dwellings need to revised, making it more accessible for rural homeowners to live comfortably in their new homes, in all weather conditions, without facing the prospect of sitting in the cold. Human sacrifices to a politically failed ideology.”
