KILDARE: Retrofitting of Maynooth homes gets underway

Some 86 homes will be retrofitted by Kildare County Council this year.

Labour councillor Angela Feeney urged KCC to carry out the work on council homes in Maynooth “to assist in achieving the objectives of the decarbonisation zone for the town.”

She was supported by Cllr Peter Hamilton who said KCC has made very good progress.

KCC says it has been participating in retrofit programmes for the past three years. The programme is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. KCC has been allocated 86 Units for 2023 and the Clane-Maynooth area is being targeted. According to KCC Greenfield Estate, Maynooth was included and 52 tenants were invited to participate “and to date only six tenants have accepted.”

Works were scheduled to start in the first week of September to these houses. The council expects that once work starts “more tenants may opt in.”

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Cllr Feeney said real challenges in reaching targets with regard to transportation emissions but also for residential emissions in the town. Seh added that a retrofit of council housing estates would go some way in assisting us to achieve those objectives.   She also said that the added benefit of doing this retrofit is that these homes would be warmer and future-proofed and more comfortable for residents.  

These are  some of the oldest if not the oldest council houses in the area. 

Cllr Feeney also said the other benefit would be that KCC  is seen to be leading on the climate crisis. Cllr Feeney urged more tenants to participate in the retrofit scheme.

Cllr Pádraig McEvoy said that publicity material on the benefits of the work should  be produced to get people interested and he said once some people in an area get the work done, others will follow.