THE TAOISEACH HAS said people should not be penalised for retrofitting their homes by adding insulation, following a local council threatening one household over works carried out several years ago.

South Dublin County Council has taken planning action against a homeowner, seeking for the removal of cladding installed on the house, or risk a fine.

Clive Ryan was told to submit retrospective planning permission to retain the insulation for the front of his home in Kilnamanagh, in the Ballymount area, which was added in 2018.

As reported over the weekend, Ryan had received a grant worth more than €4,000 to help pay for the costs from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

The case was raised in the Dáil today by Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy, who told Micheál Martin that it was “incredible” a family was faced with threats for taking the measure.

He asked Martin if he agreed that external wall insulation should be exempt from requiring planning permission.

In response, Martin said he wanted to examine the details of the case as he was unfamiliar with the controversy, before adding that the government doesn’t want to discourage people from applying insulation to their homes.

“I don’t understand why the council is seeking planning permission,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

“We do want people to insulate. We don’t want people to be penalised for insulation.”

Micheál Martin in the Dáil today discussing the issue. Oireachtas Oireachtas

Installing cladding to external walls helps to retain heat in the home, but it also helps to ease heating bills and therefore reduces emissions.

But a gap seems to have arisen in legislation whereby – while some forms of insulation are exempt from planning permission – applying cladding to external walls is less clear.

Murphy told the Dáil that the Ryan household had taken “exactly the type of climate action” that government policy is designed to incentivise.

“They’re a clear win, a no-brainer for a householder who has reduced energy bills,” the People Before Profit TD said, adding that society as a whole benefits from lower carbon emissions and reduced air pollution.

He criticised the planning enforcement action taken by the council under the Planning and Development Act 2000, in which Ryan could face a fine which can reach up to €5,000. At the upper limit of penalties is a jail term for up to six months.