Census 2022 figures reveal 70,000 households still dependent on turf for home heating

Peat remained a major source of home heating in many counties before a ban on its commercial sale, new census figures reveal.

The Government banned the sale of turf last October as part of its climate change measures and to improve air quality, but it continues to allow householders to have turbary rights to cut and carry away their own turf from a designed plot of bogland.

It also allows turf cutters to sell their turf to friends and family, but not for commercial use.

The latest census figures from April last year, before the ban came into place, shows the use of turf for home heating has declined in the last decade, but the decline has been gradual.

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Some 68,000 households across the State are mostly dependent on turf for home heating, according to the 2022 census. In 2016 it was 79,000 and in 2011 90,000.

The figures were compiled by Gamma, a location intelligence technology company in Ireland and the UK.

Unsurprisingly, Offaly – which has some of the largest bogs in the country – has the highest number of householders who use turf for home heating, at 27 per cent, followed by Roscommon (20.4 per cent), Galway (17.6 per cent), Longford (14.3 per cent), Mayo (13.8 per cent), Westmeath (13.5 per cent) and Laois (11.5 per cent).

By contrast, fewer than 200 households in the whole of Dublin’s four local authority areas burn turf, and the percentage nationwide of homes that use fuel decreased from 5.5 per cent in 2011 to 3.7 per cent across the State.

[ Prospect of prosecuting turf-burning households for excessive use played down ]

Overall, the 2022 census showed that the proportion of homes with oil-fired central heating is lower than in 2011, now standing at 39 per cent.

However, this fluctuates greatly depending on the location, with the highest rate of oil-fired central heating found in Monaghan (75 per cent) and Cavan (69 per cent). At the other end of the spectrum, just 4 per cent of households in Dublin city rely on oil-fired central heating.

More than 60 per cent of households in Dublin are dependent on natural gas to heat their homes, but only 1 per cent of homes in Donegal and Wexford are attached to the grid.

Just over a quarter (25.8 per cent) of households have a renewable energy source, with more than half of those using wood or biomass.

Solar water heating panels were revealed to be the most prevalent form, with 5.2 per cent of properties having same. Meanwhile, 3.9 per cent of households have a heat pump (either air or ground source) and 1.9 per cent of households have solar electric panels installed.

Craughwell in Co Galway and Dunshaughlin in Co Meath have the highest proportion of households with solar electric panels, with almost one in four houses (23 per cent) in those towns having solar electric panels.

[ Government failing to prevent illegal turf cutting 12 years after ban, says conservation group ]

Gamma Location Labs lead consultant Richard Cantwell said the census shows the move towards more sustainable living and carbon neutrality is “slow”.

He added: “Of course, there are other factors likely to be impacting this, including the affordability of and accessibility to renewable energy systems and resources.

“However, on a more positive note, it’s clear from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland data that there is great potential in certain areas. For instance, with solar electric panels, there is a lot of room for expansion in those areas best poised to take advantage of solar energy in Ireland.

“It is also promising to see that we are improving from an environmental perspective and – perhaps due to the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic, which also brought about widespread remote working – people appear to be more conscious than before of their energy consumption, behaviours and choices.”