Energy Conservation
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-24
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I appreciate that. Possible solutions for the housing estate have changed many times. Initially, the heating system was fed by biomass. It was then changed to gas but then the invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices through the roof. It is a deeply inefficient system in places and at times, and while there have been some attempts at improvements, we need a long-term solution.
I welcome the fact the SEAI and the Government are open to delivering on this. It may be that the easiest solution is not to replace the communal system with another communal system but to move to individualised solutions within houses. I am agnostic once there is a scheme that is affordable for the individuals and that works out as a better system environmentally and in all the given scenarios. In a perfect world, we would be able to switch it over to a district heating system that takes waste energy from elsewhere. That does not appear to be a possibility at this point, but it may be a solution in many other places.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-24