The bureaucratic tangle that is destroying the Western Isles home insulation programme is a catastrophe for many islanders.

That's the view of Councillor Angus McCormack who chairs the Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Anti-Poverty Group.

He said yesterday (Wednesday March 30) that the news that the issues between Tighean Innse Gall (TIG) and the Scottish Government have not been resolved is very bad news indeed.

"If a resolution can not be found timeously more families will fall into fuel poverty and possibly into absolute poverty.

"It is imperative that the Scottish Government redouble their efforts to resolve this matter. Verbal promises are valueless. A new contract is essential.

"It is clear that the Scottish Government has not taken into consideration the nature of the housing stock in the Western Isles which was built in the period from the end of World War Two until the early 1970s when no insulation was required.

"The best way to tackle fuel poverty in the Western Isles is to maximise insulation.

"TIG has been doing a great job delivering new insulation and now they are being abandoned. Both TIG and local contractors need written assurances that the future of the insulation service is guaranteed."