Out-Of-Date Energy Policy Needs 'Complete Review'

Communications and Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte has been accused of "making up energy policy piecemeal in reaction to events instead of having a strategic plan".

Senator Thomas Byrne, Fianna Fáil MEP candidate in Midlands-North West, made the accusation at a public meeting saying: "Most EU member states - as well as the EU Commission - are revisiting their energy policies in the light of radically changed circumstances.

"The EU recently revised its targets for renewable energy out to the year 2030 and made them less binding on member states. We also have to take into account the latest clear messages about climate change and global warming signalled by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Minister Rabbitte and the Irish government are persisting with a renewable energy policy has been out of date since 2008, when the worldwide recession began."

The senator said that what was needed was "calm, rational analysis" of the various energy options available and called for a comprehensive review of policy that will look at:

• The technical challenges and costs associated with different forms of energy generation and transmission – including construction costs, running costs and the cost of compensating people for devaluation of their homes and farms

• The health effects associated with different forms of energy generation and transmission

• The environmental effects associated with different forms of energy generation and transmission

• The climate change benefits – if any – associated with different forms of energy generation and transmission

Minister Rabbitte’s announcement that the Midlands Wind Energy Export Project has been pushed out beyond 2020 – but not scrapped – is a typical case of ‘too little, too late’. It satisfies nobody only the Minister and his advisers.

"Of course, we need cheaper, safe energy. Of course, we should look at renewables as an option – but not at any price and I accept that we need to modernise the electricity grid. But the government’s energy policy is too heavily reliant on an outdated renewables strategy while technology and economics are moving towards other solutions."

(MH/IT)