Giving Green a Bad Name
I was web-surfing for while today waiting for the rain to stop – I have a few sacks of montbretia to plant out thanks to a green fingered friend who was tidying up her garden.
I noticed a headline on a news report that looked promising – “Ryan announces €500m investment for electricity sector” – Ryan being a Green party government minister with responsibility for energy.
I was hoping perhaps there would finally be some money available to make our electricity structure more friendly towards grid-connect renewable energy systems – silly me!
No matter how often the green party have disappointed (I hasten to add that I am not nor have I ever been a member of any political party) I still expect them to behave as though they had green interests at heart and I repeatedly come disappointed and feel let down by them.
This 500million euros will be spent creating an interconnector between Ireland and Britain – It will allow the State to buy electricity from Britain during times of strong demand and crucially for the development of wind energy, will also allow the State to sell into the British grid at times of excess power.
This has been touted by minister Ryan as a green victory. How can he pretend to such things? We certainly don’t have enough green power being generated in this country to sell any excess and it will be a very long time, if ever, before we come even close to that situation.
What will happen is that we will buy electricity from Britain, nuclear generated electricity!
Irish people have always had a very clear stance on not using nuclear power and successive governments have always had to recognise this. But we can use it if someone else generates it and someone else has to live beside the nuclear power plant?
A green victory? – It’s pretty damn hollow!
Hi Scribhneoir, It’s been awhile since my last visit – life in the fast lane has got to slow down. I’m not cut out for speed.
Politicians trying to convince the voters = “It’s pretty damn hollow!”
How right you are.
Lindy
Hi Lindy, it really is good to hear from you again – I was starting to miss you!
Yeah – the fast lane – I guess that some of us are just not cut out for that sort of thing, luckily there is no fast lane up here on the hill however we do often veer onto it when we leave the hill and I generally find that it’s a little uncomfortable 😉
Likewise… been offline a while… but am catching up.
The timing of this interconnector development is interesting. Because one of the consequences of the “Yes” vote to Lisbon is that we can no longer exercise a national veto in regard to (amongst other things) the issue of “energy”.
The “Yes” vote also means that the Irish State “may become a member of the European Atomic Energy Community” (http://www.lisbontreaty2009.ie/lisbon_treaty_extended_guide.pdf – page 18).
So the day we start importing nuclear-generated electricity is fast approaching I reckon. As might also be the day when we have nuclear plant here.
Because by saying “Yes” to º6, if the EAEC ever decides something like “all member states” or “just those at the extremities which pose least danger to the fewest number of our EU population” must provide nuclear power for the rest of Europe, then we can’t say no.
(Unless of course I am completely misunderstanding what it means to say our State will not prevent “laws enacted, acts done or measure adopted” by the EAEC from having the force of law in Ireland?)
Might be time to start packing my bags and moving elsewhere…
Time will tell what we have said yes to… It’s a bit mad…
I heard a radio reporter today asking what went wrong in Donegal and I thought it showed so well the bias of our national media, after all – almost half the voters agreed with the Donegal no vote, so I don’t think anything went wrong in Donegal.
Perhaps the voters were more engaged or informed than elsewhere – I can feel a post coming on however I don’t think that I really want to write that one – yet…