Mayo County Council has been working on bringing its housing stock up to standard in relation to insulation and central heating works over the past year and that will continue into 2016. In a report to the elected members of the council, senior executive officer Paul Benson outlined that according to preliminary data of the council's 2,046 housing units, 112 of them had been identified as being deficient in terms of central heating provision and 764 had been identified as having insulation standards lower than being applied by the council under its energy efficiency programme. However it was outlined that most of the houses in the 764 identified as being deficient in terms of insulation complied with building regulations at the time of their construction and that the council apply a very high standard when it comes to insulation and it is for this reason that the glaring deficiency exists.
The breakdown of the figures by Municipal District is as follows. In Castlebar Municipal District 199 are in need of attic insulation, 33 in need of attic and wall insulation and 15 in need of central heating upgrades. In the Ballina Municipal District, five are in need of wall insulation, 171 in need of attic insulation, and 34 in need of central heating upgrades. In the Claremorris Municipal District, 185 are in need of attic insulation, one is in need of attic and wall insulation, and 13 in need of central heating upgrades. In the West Mayo Municipal District 69 are in need of wall insulation, 78 in need of attic insulation, 23 in need of wall and attic insulation, and 50 in need of central heating upgrades.
The council has been carrying out works on a number of houses this year and by year's end at least 188 of the houses affected will have benefited from insulation works. These 188 units are all located in the Castlebar and Claremorris Municipal Districts in areas like An Sruthaun, Riverdale Court, Rowan Drive, Lui na Greine, Barr na Haille, An Chlair, An Chluain, St Geralds Court and Tooraree.
Going into 2016, from the council's own internal receipts, it is expected that €1.2 million will be made available to deal with the 112 houses without central heating. Survey work is ongoing with a view to preparing a tender document for the commencement of the heating programme, it was also stated as part of the report.
