Fuel poverty in Ireland may be responsible for up to 2,000 deaths according to the charity, Age Action Ireland.
At a conference on the issue at Dublin Castle on Tuesday, Age Action Ireland spokesperson,
Emer Begley, linked over 1,500 winter deaths over 2009/2010 to elderly
men and women living alone on low incomes.
Ms Begley highlighted that
the difficult winter conditions experienced over December/January just
past would probably result in at least as many deaths this year, if not
more.
Ms Begley told the conference that the elderly tended “to respond to
fuel poverty by rationing energy” and this in turn left them more
vulnerable healthwise.
Professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, Christine
Liddell, told the conference that researchers believe the figures for
deaths linked to cold-related illnesses were underestimated by up to
twenty-five per cent. She underlined that combating fuel poverty would
pay dividends in healthcare cost savings.
Meanwhile, new survey findings published by the homeless charity, Focus Ireland, have revealed the extent of Irish homeowners’ fears that they may end up homeless.
The Ipsos/MRBI survey findings, which were published last weekend,
show that as many as six per cent of Irish people believe it is very
likely that they will become homeless due to the impact of the recession
and the tough cutbacks imposed by the Government following the EU/IMF
bailout.
Another two per cent of those polled indicated that they believed
that they were quite likely to be left homeless at some point.
The
survey also showed that nearly half of those who think they will become
homeless are currently working.
The survey of 1,000 adults was carried
out in mid-January.
According to Focus Ireland spokesperson, Joyce Loughnan,
“fear of losing your home is a profound concern for families throughout
the country” due to the level of personal debt as well as mortgage and
rent arrears among many homeowners.
There are currently over 120,000 households on Irish housing waiting lists while as many as 5,000 people are homeless.