I hope they do not find out I am here; they might stop me talking.
It is very important to debate this issue here tonight. Many people in Kerry have been perished from the cold when the houses that were basically heated by electricity lost power. Can the Minister of State imagine young families trying to heat a bottle for babies? Simple things became an awful ordeal. Water pumps did not work because of the electricity being out. In times gone by it would not have been so bad because people could boil the kettle of water or hang it on the crane like my grandmother did and it was boiling all the time and she even had the door open.
However, this whole thing has gone mad. The whole thing is overkill. They are advised to take the chimneys out of the houses and it is totally and absolutely wrong because the chimney was the most important component of the house. It was there to take the smoke out, but it was also there to take the foul air out. None of this is needed because there is plenty of insulation in the houses being built today. I passed through the village of Kilgarvan. There is a scenario where the roofs have been taken off three council houses that are void and vacant, and people are crying to get into them. The roofs have been taken off to take out the chimney. They have to take off the back side of the roof to get the chimney out and this is what they are ordered to do.
The purpose of this is to get the house fitted and ready for the next tenants, but this is the delay. In Gneevgullia, it took five years to get three houses reinstated because the Department demands that the chimney is taken out before the house is made liveable again. It is unbelievable that chimneys are being taken out of houses that were lived in until the other day. It costs any amount of money. I must presume it costs at least €100,000. The cost for three houses would build another new house or perhaps one and a half new houses, no bother in the world.
I am asking for common sense. We will forget about the way this came about. I want the Government to rectify it. There is no need in the wide world for it. If people who, all of a sudden in the snow and frost, had electric heating all around them and everything was at the touch of a button, had a simple stove, they could boil the kettle, fry or boil an egg or fry a rasher and a sausage. They would not be hungry. However, they were cold and miserable and some of them did not even have water. On top of that, they had no access until the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team came to their assistance. It is unbelievable what is happening today.
I wish the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, and all the Ministers well in their new posts. It is important for the sake of the people of Ireland that they do well. Common sense must prevail, however. The Minister of State should forget this racket or caper of taking chimneys out of houses because they are insulated enough. Please leave them something for times of emergency when they need food or need to boil the kettle, a pot of spuds or whatever. Leave them something as a back-up.