OPINION: I have an air to water house in Offaly - here's why I wish I had a fire

I remember summer Saturday mornings well when I was a child; I'd hear my father in the kitchen early on the phone talking to the 'turf man'. He was getting directions to a plot; 'pass the row of hedges, through the second gate, into a sort of dip, you'll see a notice there with your name.' The bog filled me with dread. 

Nevertheless, we went every year to turn, foot and draw that turf home. I joked in 2020 that my turf-turning days were over when I bought an air to water, A-rated house in Bracknagh, Co Offaly, ironically right in the heart of bog country. Little did I know I'd be lying in the dark during a storm Googling how to install a stove in which I could burn the old sod once more. 

Air to water houses are great; the rooms are at a constant 20 degrees, no solid fuel and just the one bill - electricity. I still joke with my wife now that we don't fully know how the heating system in the new house works, but it's always warm, hot water comes out of the shower head, and we just live happily in this sort of cosy mystery. 

The magic well and truly dissipated during the recent Storm Éowyn when we lost power for three days. No way to heat the house, shower, make the baby's bottles, nothing. The house had literally shut down like an old power station. The wind turbines I can see out my windows weren't able to save me. 'It's well insulated so it will hold the heat for a few days,' I consoled myself. I was sadly mistaken. 

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We effectively had to move out for three days to my mother in law's where the fires were roaring 24/7. Going back and forth to our own house, I listened to a lot of hot air on the radio. A Green policy advocate was on defending air to water houses and all those houses built recently with no secondary heat source. He repeated the old trope; these houses are so well insulated, the temperature inside may only fall by a degree or so over a few days. I got home, walked through the door and checked my thermostats; my temperatures had fallen 10 degrees in two days. I cursed him, the house and Storm Éowyn to high heaven.

You rarely see a new house going up now with a chimney. I know we don't have a Storm Éowyn too often but there will always be power outages. Most of my family endured the same fate over that weekend but none of them had to leave their house. Yes, the contents of the fridge rotted in the dark but they all lit fires and bunkered down for a few days drinking the wine and beer left over from Christmas. Some people could still cook on top of the stove or range, and God I envied all of them. 

I listened with interest to Newstalk on Thursday when this very discussion came up again. A chemistry expert explained that fires release dangerous particles into the atmosphere and result directly in deaths, 1,700 people a year in Ireland, Ciara Kelly added. Michael McNamara TD explained how people in rural Ireland viewed the situation, pointing out that 13,000 people as of February 6 were still without electricity. Let's remember this storm happened on January 24. I don't deny the death stats, and I am all for sustainability and more energy efficient and environmentally friendly houses, but we have to acknowledge the reality for some people in Ireland. 

Rural Ireland is very often put down as this backward place where people want to hang on to traditions, no matter their impact. You hear that argument often on national radio where rural TDs are almost sneered for saying people should be allowed burn turf or drive diesel cars without being vilified. But that depiction is just plainly unfair. The reality for people in rural Ireland is very different to that in Dublin, where many green policies emanate. Not too many of the 13,000 people still without power on February 6 live east of the Shannon, let's be honest. 

The kicker in all of this is that peoples' electricity bills are going to go up as a result of the Storm Éowyn clean-up. The CEO of ESB Networks admitted as much on RTE radio. Paddy Hayes said it is "likely that those charges...will find their way back into the overall cost of our distribution network." People who lost power will also not be compensated because the public service levy which facilitates a scheme that compensates people for service disruption is not applicable during storms. This irks me more than most because my biggest bill because my heating, water, etc run off it. I will be impacted most by increases to bills because my bill is higher to begin with. 

I don't want to pollute the earth for the sake of it or anything else; I just want a way to heat my house when the power goes. If the Government can't offer a decent alternative to people in my boat during events like Storm Éowyn, I'll be going back to the bog and back to the turf fire I grew up on, and I won't apologise to anyone for it. I'm not holding my breath for that solution so I'm currently pricing up the job.