Our Warm Homes For All campaign is making great progress!

Ireland’s energy system, dominated by polluting and expensive fossil fuels, is pushing people into extremely difficult circumstances—even forcing them to choose between heating and eating. 

Did you know that one in three Irish households are now living in energy poverty? Energy poverty is a situation where a household is unable to access and afford essential energy services and products—which constitute a basic human need. Energy poverty is worst experienced by the systemically marginalised, which include people grappling with the housing and cost-of-living crises. 

We, at Friends of the Earth, take our work on energy poverty seriously, and we strive to ensure a fair transition to a fossil fuel-free society, unlocking the benefits of warmer homes and lower energy bills for everyone. This is at the core of our ‘Warm Homes for All’ campaign, which is at the intersection of climate justice, social justice, human rights and anti-poverty movements. 

In this blog, we'd like to share some of our recent work on our Warm Homes for All Campaign, as well as the impact it’s having. We're excited to share that we’ve had quite a bit of success lately. And we couldn’t have done this without our supporters' engagement, which makes our voice louder, our actions more significant, and our impact greater. 

Following our presentation and submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, Community, Rural Development and the Islands, our policy proposals to address energy poverty received cross-party endorsement. In a significant win, the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community, Rural Development, and the Islands included our policy proposals in its comprehensive report on Energy Poverty. This is also against the backdrop of the Government convening stakeholders to advise on the development of a new Energy Poverty Action Plan, due by mid-October.

This is a step forward in our efforts to ensure that no household in Ireland is left out in the cold due to high energy costs, fossil fuel dependence, and inefficient housing. The Joint Committee’s report underscores the importance of a whole-of-government approach and the necessity of involving civil society in the development and implementation of effective and equitable policies. 

We set out our joint recommendations, along with 20 leading civil society organisations, to permanently tackle cold homes and high energy bills by addressing the root causes - inefficient buildings, high energy costs and inadequate incomes. While presenting at the Forum, we highlighted that the Energy Poverty Action plan must set out measurable, time-bound targets to permanently eradicate energy poverty with a clear pathway to address the root causes that underpin it. 

Some of our demands for the Government’s new Energy Poverty Action Plan include:

• Setting an ambition, that by 2026, everyone in Ireland can access the basic energy they need, regardless of income, home ownership status, age, disability or health status, location, or type of housing.
• Focus on long-term solutions to permanently eradicate energy poverty such as home retrofitting, renewable solutions, and adequate social welfare support.
• Include voices of those most affected by energy poverty in the new action plan's development, delivery and review.

Earlier this month, the Climate Change Advisory Council (Ireland’s climate watchdog) supported our recommendations in its publication on climate action in Irish homes and buildings. Getting this Council to support our recommendations is a significant win for us! 

Recommendations of ours, that the Council supported, included increasing targets and funding for retrofitting of social housing; providing more support for households to install renewable heating systems; and a more targeted, area-based approach to retrofitting. The Government must now heed the advice of the Council and civil society and implement the recommendations made in order to guarantee a faster and fairer transition away from fossil fuels in our buildings.

What is more, we have also got the public behind us in urging strong Government action on energy poverty and retrofitting, as affirmed by a recent polling from Ireland Thinks. The polling results show overwhelming public support for measures like increasing funding to retrofit all social housing by 2030, introducing community energy advisors to support households to retrofit, and making sure renters can benefit from government retrofit schemes—underscoring the urgency of these measures. The results highlight the clear mandate from the Irish public for Budget 2025 to focus on new, long-term measures to reduce fossil fuel dependence and deliver warmer, healthier homes for all, as well as for the government to take decisive action on energy savings, particularly for low-income households.

Ireland’s fossil fuel dependence, which causes volatile price fluctuations and energy inefficiency, cannot continue. We will continue to push the Government to implement measures that translate into real, tangible benefits for those in energy poverty, ultimately leading to warm homes for all. Getting polluting fossil fuels out of home heating, as well as protecting households most at risk of energy poverty from rising energy prices, are a linked environmental, social and economic imperative. It is indispensable in our work towards climate and social justice—for a just world where people and nature thrive. 

As always, we’ll continue to bank on our supporters in driving our work for climate and social justice. Thank you for all that you do and give, making our campaigns not only possible but powerful!

Note: The artwork used to illustrate this blog was created by graphic designer Iris Aghedo.