Saturday, December 04, 2010

Shocking Fuel Poverty in Ireland

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Shocking Levels 
of Fuel Poverty 
in Ireland

In the Island of Saints and Scholars, (used to be what Ireland was called - but nowadays it sounds hollow and very inappropriate), 2,500 homes a month are disconnected from their gas and electricity.

This is, quite frankly, a shocking level and represents a very large human tragedy being played out.
If that disconnection figure were to repeat itself over the full year, the yearly figure would represent 2% of all dwellings in the country.

Small Mercies


Various appeals have been made to the energy companies and as a result, ESB, Bord Gáis and Airtricity have announced that they are suspending disconnections during the bad weather and also during the Christmas holiday period.

St Vincent de Paul,  the main charity helping the ordinary population, reported having distributed as much as €5.800,000 to allay energy poverty.

I find these figures far more shocking than the IMF and EU bail out news. All the more sickening when one hears that a retiring government minister is to get €315,000 a year.



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