Vulnerable Mayo families benefit from Nephin Energy charity donations

Another major donation from Nephin Energy to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) West Region will bring further help to support vulnerable families in Mayo.

Approximately 300 families in Mayo and over 700 in the SVP West Region as a whole have already been supported with energy costs from Nephin Energy donations. The recent donation of €100,000 is estimated to bring this figure for the region to over 1,000 families.

Nephin Energy Managing Director, Tom O’Brien, said while energy prices have recently fallen, ‘almost one in four households still struggle to pay their energy bills’. 

Ireland's largest domestic producer of natural gas, Nephin Energy, has been helping address energy poverty in the SVP West Region for the past three years.

This latest donation brings the total donations from the energy producer to a quarter of a million since 2021.  

With the increase in calls reaching record levels, SVP expects that figure to reach over 1,000 by next winter.

“For the most vulnerable, keeping their homes warm during the winter is still a real challenge,” added Mr O’Brien. 

Maureen Mitchell, the West Regional President for SVP, welcomed the donation, saying 2023 was a year that saw a huge increase in the number of people reaching out to SVP looking for support and assistance.  

Ms Mitchell revealed that last year, SVP received just over 250,000 calls for help to its regional and local conferences nationwide.   

“Energy and utility bills were an area of need cited by almost 20,000 callers, while another 33,000 calls were from people struggling with both energy and food costs when they reached out to SVP for help” she explained.

Although having heat and electricity is ‘a basic living requirement’, for many, it’s not possible to afford.

“SVP continues to advocate and take practical steps to reduce energy poverty among vulnerable families” said Ms Mitchell. 

The SVP West Region is made up of 63 local committees that operate in Mayo, Galway and Roscommon. 

Ms Mitchell said this Nephin Energy donation will allow over 500 local volunteers ‘to provide far-reaching assistance to those in need of support with energy costs’. 

The volunteers take a ‘practical approach’ to dealing with poverty by helping ‘alleviate its effects on individuals and families’. This is ‘primarily’ through in person, home visitation where they offer ‘direct, personal assistance’ based on the needs of the individual or family.  

“We are delighted to be able to help alleviate, in some small way, the cost-of-living pressures that people are experiencing, particularly at this time of the year” concluded Mr O’Brien.