I have received confirmation from the Minister for Local Government that his Department do not collate any information on the type of heating source in the Local Authority housing stock across the country.

“It is a farce that the Minister for the Environment wants to ban the sale of turf yet the Local Authority houses which have solid fuel heating applicates replying on turf and we have no idea of the extent of the problem.

Since 2013 75,000 homes were retrofitted which is a 9-year period. The question is how many of these houses are still using fossil fuels and turf.

There is no data available, and Government are devising policies and schemes without any data for the implementation of these schemes.

It is my view that it will take at least ten years to retrofit the social housing stock and it is premature to ban the sale of turf.

Many families in Local Authority houses are relying on turf to heat their homes, cook their food and provide hot water, until the alternative is in place there is no point in banning anything to do with turf”.