Firstly the speech smacks of "my deaths are more important than yours". Crass. All deaths whether due to air poll or fuel poverty are a failure to protect our citizens. Using deaths from one cause (whatever the #) to argue against action to prevent other deaths is disgraceful.
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I'm deeply troubled by this claim made by
@PearseDoherty
in the Dáil yesterday that 2800 people die each year from fuel poverty. There are factually incorrect claims made about and deaths from fuel poverty. The opposition parties need to be challenged on this by the media. A🧵
The Government's proposal for a ban on turf despite not providing any alternatives to communities so they can heat their homes is a daft idea! They need to ditch it now. A Just Transition means you put alternatives in place FIRST –
@PearseDoherty
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Secondly, the figure is just plain wrong. 2800 people are not dying each year from fuel poverty. A leading expert
@colmpbyrne
described it as a 'huge exaggeration'. Where did
@PearseDoherty
get the number from & did he look for up to date research?
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Here is
@colmpbyrne
's thread where he explains that the 2800 was from an all-island 2007 report estimating total excess winter mortality. This likely includes deaths from air pollution as air pollution is higher in winter too.
Thread: There has been a lot of talk about 3000 deaths per year from fuel poverty in Ireland. Fuel poverty is a serious concern but we need to have accuracy about the figures we use. I decided to have a look at where it came from. 1/6
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I was the lead author for a 2022 report by
@DCUClimate
and
@CLMirl
into environmental justice. We reviewed the available research into air pollution & health in so far as it affects vulnerable & marginalised communities. Some findings: there is a link between poverty & poor AQ:
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Our report was focused on the impacts on vulnerable groups. The links between hospital admissions & poor air quality are well documented. People are more likely to suffer from respiratory & cardio illness in places with high levels of solid fuel burning & vehicular traffic.
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@PearseDoherty
- this is an issue of environmental injustice that
@sinnfeinireland
should be leading on, as a party that wants a
#JustTransition
.
Where are you???
In this clip, we highlight the impact of poor AQ and traffic on older people:
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See also the work of the
@ClimHealthIre
and
@Irishheart_ie
and
@AsthmaIreland
on the health impacts of solid fuel use.
#airpollution
causes 1,300 premature deaths per year, the vast majority due to cardiovascular disease. We must move away from the worst solid fuels to healthier, more sustainable forms of home heating. It is time to act on clean air and pass the Solid Fuel Regulations.
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The science is well established: air pollution causes illness & death & is harmful to vulnerable groups because of underlying health conditions, poverty or exposure to multiple environmental hazards especially in low-income & marginalised communities.
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Now lets look at the use of solid fuel in Ireland. A recent
@EPAIreland
research report
#407
studied this in detail. It found that while there were c. 39k households relying on solid fuel for heating (2016), a higher no use solid fuels for extra heating.
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Note: this data is about solid fuel use, not fuel poverty per se. People use solid fuels because they might be cheaper esp. after 2010. Fuel poverty is defined as when you spend more than 10% of your disposable income on heating house to warmth - see
@ESRIDublin
@SVP_Ireland
.
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On fuel poverty, overall incidence has been ⬇️over the past 2 decades, it may now ⬆️ due to rising cost of fuels. It affects older people on fixed, low incomes & people in rented/ poor quality housing that costs more to heat. It affects children badly -
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Not everyone who relies on solid fuel is suffering from fuel poverty. Fuel poverty should be tackled with retrofitting support & grants, additional income supports - implement all the recs of the
@SVP_Ireland
@ThresholdIRE
submission here
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Tackling fuel poverty will not be easy. It will require careful regulation of the private rental sector & ⬆️ grants for improving the BER rating of rental accommodation. For home owners, rolling out
@SEAI_ie
100% grants is still too slow, unwieldy :
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But surely to God the solution to this is to accelerate action, awareness raising of pollution/ health impacts & find ways to increase public engagement instead of just lob bad stats across the aisle to terrify people? Meanwhile...
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It's also clear that sod peat use is closely correlated with proximity to bogs. Use is not just a function of affordability, but of availability. If bogs were properly protected it's likely that fewer households would be using it. That was the effect of the smoky coal ban:
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I could go on and on. There is ample data on the links between air quality, solid fuel use, deprivation & public health. Bog destruction & damage to our health is happening under our noses but what are opposition parties doing for environmental justice?
We don’t have time for “eventually”. Urgent state intervention is clearly needed
#ClimateEmergency
#BiodiversityCrisis
#AirPollution
Just look at the photos - this is not good custody. It is killing our Amazon & kicking the feet out from under current & future generations
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@TodaywithClaire
@drivetimerte
@NewstalkFM
@KOSullivanIT
@codohertynews
@DanielTMurray
@TonightVMTV
@RadioBrendanRTE
@GeorgeLeeRTE
@oconnellhugh
@irishexaminer
@thejournal_ie
@hlinehan
@SorchaPollak
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@SadhbhO
Why is the 1300 deaths due to poor air quality not called out as so? Are those that die from homelessness not as important? Eamon Ryan seems to think their not as this is the arguement that he relies on to ban the sale of turf.
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