Nearly 4,000 Households In Kildare Still Dependent On Turf For Home Heating - Census

Monday, 21 August 2023 10:58

By Caoimhe Harney

Census 2022 figures reveal 70,000 households are still dependent on turf

Some 3, 800 households in Kildare are still dependent on turf for home heating, according to the latest census figures.

In 2011, almost 5,000 households were using turf to heat their home or (7%) of the County's population.

Peat remained a major source of home heating in many counties before a ban on its commercial sale, new census figures reveal.

Census 2022 figures reveal 70,000 households are still dependent on turf for home heating.

Midland counties have the highest rate of turf usage in the State, according to data compiled before ban on commercial sale

Unsurprisingly, Offaly – which has some of the largest bogs in the country – has the highest number of householders who use turf for home heating, at 27 per cent, followed by Roscommon (20.4 per cent), Galway (17.6 per cent), Longford (14.3 per cent), Mayo (13.8 per cent), Westmeath (13.5 per cent) and Laois (11.5 per cent).

Ronan McGreevy, Irish Times Columnist spoke to Eoin Beatty on Monday morning's Kildare Today:

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