Pensioners can look forward to warmer winter in council housing

IT’S going to be a warmer winter ahead for many of Limerick’s elderly residents, particularly those living in rented council houses.

Central heating has been installed in recent months in 50 of the 150 special pensioner’s homes in the city.

And heating work will be completed in the remainder by the end of the year, according to Pat Dowling, director of services with Limerick City Council.

The total cost will come to over €1 million.

The houses are located in Garryowen, Southill, Moyross, Thomondgate and the city centre. It cost in excess of €7,700 to fit each house with gas fired central heating and the Government gives a grant of €5,600 for each installation.

Mr Dowling said: “It will make life a lot more comfortable with the new central heating.

“A small number of elderly people declined to have the new system put into their houses.”

When the present scheme is completed, the council intends to draw up a huge plan to install central heating in the mainstream council housing stock in the city.

Limerick City Council owns 3,200 houses which have tenants living in them. Of these, only 700 have central heating.

Mr Dowling said that progress on this work will depend on how much the council can raise from its own resources as government funding is dependent on this.

This work, he said, would cost in the region of e4m.

The chairman of the council’s housing committee, councillor Ger Fahy, said the new scheme being carried out on pensioners houses will make the homes of elderly people safer as well as warmer.

He said: “As well as the heating, smoke alarms and insulation is also put in. Many of these houses are very old and damp and the new heating will be a huge improvement.”

He said he had contacted Bord Gais to get advice for pensioners about the best payment options to enable them make the best possible use of their free energy allowances.

At one time, 40% of all houses in Limerick were council owned.

Local politicians said that many of the city’s social ills stem from the imbalance of council and privately owned housing.

This situation has been exacerbated by the inability of Limerick City Council to get a boundary extension to enable it to spread the housing programme in a wider area.