Sir, – As someone who heats their house using an oil-fired boiler and whose family and friends almost without exception similarly rely on oil and gas to heat their homes, I was alarmed to read Conor Purcell and Michael Keary’s call for the removal of these vital sources of heating and energy from Irish homes (“We need to get gas boilers, oil-based systems, fireplaces, and chimneys out of Irish homes”, Opinion & Analysis, October 15th).
What are we going to replace oil and gas boilers with? The article makes a passing reference to “heat pumps and solar PV roof technology” but as has been repeatedly made clear, the cost of a national, mandatory in all but name retrofitting of private residences with nascent green technology is simply prohibitive.
We are talking billions of euro, and who picks up the tab – taxpayer or homeowner – has never been satisfactorily outlined by the proponents of this retrofitting revolution. Nor do they explain where the skilled labour force needed to carry out work on this scale is going to come from.
The second striking aspect of the article is the contention that oil and gas boilers are “a serious risk to health and safety in our homes”.
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The authors cite a figure of six people killed per year in Ireland due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. While these fatalities are of course tragic and regrettable, in the context of population total of approximately 5.2 million the danger should be viewed in its correct context – as very low. For example, an average of 100 people die in drowning accidents per year in Ireland but nobody is calling for a ban on swimming.
Ultimately, if the advocates for net zero want to replace tried, trusted and universally popular methods of providing people with heat, light, transport and cooked food, they are going to have come up with more convincing arguments for such radical change and offer genuinely workable, cost-efficient ways of so doing. – Yours, etc,
PHILIP DONNELLY,
Kildare.