Tag Archives: Energy crisis

WITH Dublin’s Christmas lights set to be switched off early this year in response to the energy crisis, Clare County Council has confirmed that it is “continuing to monitor situation” when it comes to Ennis’ annual festive display. While the government has not issued any directive relating to Christmas lighting displays, Minister Eamon Ryan has suggested others follow Dublin’s example in a bid to save energy. Usually Dublin city’s Christmas lights stay switched on from 2pm until 4am, or 7am on Grafton Street. However, this year they are to be turned on at 4pm, and off at 2am. The Clare Champion contacted Clare County Council to ask if there are any plans to curtail festive lights in Ennis. A spokesperson for the council stated, “Ennis Municipal District is continuing to monitor the situation and will make adjustments as appropriate.” The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications was speaking recently in response to a question by Clare Independent TD Michael …

With the world in the throes of an energy crisis and people anxiously awaiting their bills this winter, Bridget Ginnity provides some helpful suggestions on how you can reduce your energy consumption and provides you with a guide on just how much each appliance and activity is costing you Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ll know that electricity bills have sky rocketed. The average bill is expected to be almost €2,200 a year, or €180 a month. That’s about €1,000 higher than this time last year if you are on the best rate. It could be another €1000 with some suppliers. Even with government intervention, we can expect higher prices to stay for the immediate future. Fretting about the bills or fighting over who left the lights on is a normal response but doesn’t do our mental and physical wellbeing any good. We can feel more in control if we understand the most effective …

WITH many older people relying on relatively modest pensions, the upcoming winter is going to be a very difficult one, warned Shannon’s Kay Murphy, the former national President of Active Retirement Ireland. “Of course it will be, sure where are they going to get the money to heat their houses this winter? “Electricity has gone up several times, gas has gone up more, oil has gone up a lot in price. Those are all sources of energy they use to heat their homes with and to cook with,” she said. Kay said that many older people struggled during the last two winters, before the energy crisis that has been emerging. “As you know older people were cocooning in 2020 and 2021 and into 2022. We stayed at home all those winters, and Active Retirement Ireland were inundated with people who were at home alone, putting on extra clothes, putting on overcoats, wrapping themselves in blankets because they couldn’t afford to …

GREATLY increased energy prices are going to pose challenges not just for business this winter, but for everyone in the country, warns Allen Flynn, proprietor of the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis. “It is a very daunting time, for everybody, whether you’re in a one-bedroom flat or a four-bedroom house, whether you’re running a business or not, every citizen is going to be affected by this,” he says. Mr Flynn says while the Old Ground has cut energy usage in recent years, those savings will be more than wiped out this year. “In terms of ourselves here, what we’ve done over the last number of years is introduce a very strong energy consumption programme, so we can be as sustainable as possible. “That has brought significant reductions through LED lighting and everything like that. We’ve been very happy that our consumption has dropped. “But regardless of what we’ve managed to achieve in the last number of years, the fact is …