The main thrust of the presentation is to highlight the urgency of the fuel poverty issue in Ireland at the moment, as well as presenting some of the consequences for health and social well-being. We are making a plea for increased leadership to focus on the issue, not just within the Department of Social and Family Affairs but across a range of Departments that have a role to play. We are calling for the development of a long-term Government-led strategy to address the issue of fuel poverty as increasing numbers of families are being disconnected and are unable to heat their homes due to rising fuel prices which will not go away.
I wish to highlight some key points from the institute's all-island policy paper on fuel poverty and health, which was produced in December 2007. Fuel poverty refers to the situation where a household is unable adequately to heat the home. All the representatives here are deeply concerned by the high levels of fuel poverty recorded on this island and the impact this has on everyone's health, especially on the vulnerable. The most recent analysis conducted by Sustainable Energy Ireland has placed the figure at around 10% of homes spending more than 10% of their net income on fuel. A recent ESRI report has indicated that the number of houses in fuel poverty is currently between 15% and 20%.
We know that the fuel poverty problem is particularly acute in Ireland compared to other European countries, with higher levels of excess winter mortality, this is the excess number of deaths that occur in the colder months of the year compared to the other months. Approximately 44% of the excess number of deaths can be directly attributed to poor housing standards, this is around 652 deaths on an annual basis, which is clearly unacceptable.
Low-income households, especially those occupied by lone parents, older people and the unemployed, are at greatest risk. Our concern around fuel poverty at this time is that fuel prices have risen significantly. Electricity prices have in fact doubled in the past eight years, which is a major threat to efforts to tackle fuel poverty. We have practically no control over the global forces affecting fuel poverty, so our efforts must focus on improving the fuel efficiency of existing and future housing stock. We have a low-income housing programme operating for private households through Sustainable Energy Ireland but this is not operating nationally. It is conducting improved energy efficiency on approximately 4,000 homes but, with over 144,000 homes in fuel poverty, this is clearly not enough.
Increasing the value of the fuel allowance is obviously a concern of the social and family affairs portfolio. This is effective at reducing the severity of fuel poverty in the short term but it is not a long-term solution in that paying ever more to heat energy-inefficient homes is simply not good value for money. There is much learning to be gained from looking at some of the social welfare and social allowance options that have been explored in Northern Ireland such as affordability tariffs.
We welcome the development of policy and legislation to improve energy efficiency and to protect our climate, but we are concerned that the needs of fuel-poor householders should be respected within efforts to promote energy efficiency in the home. For example, carbon tax makes the polluter pay but if a person lives in a poor household that relies on an open fire or an electricity-based heating system, he or she is likely to be excessively penalised by these measures. We are keen that further policy and legislation changes on energy efficiency will cater for fuel-poor households.
The current policy landscape is the White Paper on Energy and the energy policy framework produced by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. This names the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion as the main instrument of delivery. As the committee will be aware, the national action plan is co-ordinated by the Office for Social Inclusion on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, but the issue of fuel poverty seems to fall between a number of stools and this does a great disservice to the serious needs of fuel-poor households. The White Paper on Energy had undertaken to set up an interdepartmental group on fuel poverty by the end of 2007, and this has not happened. Therefore, we are calling for increased co-ordination and leadership between the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Office for Social Inclusion to make this happen as a matter of urgency. The time to do this is now when the weather is still reasonably warm, if a little wet, so that we will have some action by the winter.
There have been several Dáil debates on fuel poverty this year. In January, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, seemed to indicate that the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion was the main instrument. In February, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Martin Cullen, stated he did not see his Department as the lead Department in the development of a strategic approach to fuel poverty. In late February, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, acknowledged that the interdepartmental group had not been formed as proposed in the White Paper on Energy. He suggested that he was waiting on the results of some research. I do not see how waiting on the results of research is a good tack to employ in that the group still needs to be formed and the results of the research can be integrated subsequently.
We propose three key points here. People are living in cold damp houses in Ireland. The average energy use in Irish homes is 31% higher than the EU 15 average. Therefore, there is good evidence to show that our housing stock is extremely poor. We are under investing in improving the energy efficiency of low-income housing. We need increased political and departmental leadership, otherwise this winter people will develop serious illness and die because their houses are cold.
The formation of the interdepartmental group on fuel poverty is an urgent matter. We urge co-ordination between the Office for Social Inclusion and the Department of Communications, Energy and National Resources to ensure that happens, not in a year's time but soon. We would like the interdepartmental group to explore the possibility of developing a high-level governmental fuel poverty strategy similar to the one currently in place in Northern Ireland.
While we recognise that this committee's focus is on the remit of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, we plead strongly that this is a multidimensional issue that extends beyond the fuel allowance, the living alone allowance and the issue of social welfare — although they are important components of it. There is much benefit to be gained from adopting an all-island approach as Northern Ireland has had this quite high on its political agenda for several years. I thank the committee for listening.