Targeted support schemes will be required to reduce the use of solid fuels or encourage users to switch away, according to an EPA report.
While the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan is to set out revised turf regulations in the coming weeks, the EPA report Residential Solid Fuel Use in Ireland and the Transition Away from Solid Fuels states that financial incentives to retrofit homes that align with fuel poverty strategies, are likely to be required to provide enough encouragement to switch away from solid fuels or, to a lesser extent, reduce consumption.
It also states that some policy measures, such as restrictions on the use of solid fuels, are likely to have the greatest desired effect, experience in other countries shows that a range of policies will be required.
"The success of any policy discouraging the use of non-sustainable solid fuels will have to be accompanied by policies encouraging the use of sustainable alternatives."
Solid fuel users, interviewed for the report, were very much aware of the climate crisis, and a common message was that they saw the need to reduce the amount of solid fuel used and many would welcome a reduced dependence on it.
However, solid fuel users say there is a lack of "trustworthy information" from suppliers, public authorities and the government on newer technologies and their cost.
Ireland has the second highest use of solid fuels in Europe, at 17.6pc for heating space in houses, behind Poland (40.2pc) and along with an emotional attachment to burning solid fuels, a sizeable proportion of households rely solely on solid fuels as their only source of space heating (close to 6pc).
Other research has found that households closer to bogs have the highest resistance to change. Householders who live on a farm are more likely to use peat and wood for central heating than those not living on a farm, the report states.
The report was after a major political controversy erupted over proposals by the Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, Eamon Ryan, to ban the sale of turf.
There is a commitment in the current Programme for Government to extend the smoky coal ban nationwide, due to air quality issues in some cities, towns and villages where coal, peat and wood are the dominant source of particulate matter (PM)
Emissions with the EPA estimate that exposure to such PM caused 1,300 premature deaths in 2018 in Ireland, and it points to research that says indoor emissions from open fires can pose a substantial hazard to the health of older people.
