"Green" policies are destroying this country

Government are still pressing ahead with it regardless. They know that oil can't last forever and though there will be problems to abandon wind as part of the solution is not wise.

Christ on a bike. Has this country learned nothing from the Children's Hospital debacle?

My uncle, RIP (a bit of a mad hatter to be honest) often said that you can vote in socialists, but you'll end up shooting your way out of the communist system they eventually implement.

It's starting to sound like my uncle wasn't such a mad hatter after all.

That it`s nothing to worry about because it`s other peoples money seems to be the narrative some are attempting to promote. Problem is it`s not. The only people at the end of the day that would be paying the cost is the end consummer, and that cost would be determined by the strike price plus all the extra hydrogen related costs.

The RESS strike price is €97.87/MWh. With half that 37GW for hydrogen, effectively for the consummer that strike price doubles to €195.87, but it doesn`t end there. With the guarantee to these offshore wind companies that we will pay for whatever they produce, even if we neither need or want it, the consummer will be paying for that on top. Then there is hydrogen, which nobody knows if it will even work to scale, where the consummer will also be footing the bill for it`s production, storage, distribution and the electricity it would produce when burned.

Being very conservative at present prices I would not see anything less than €250/MWh. A price totally unaffordable for the vast majority and one that would sink our economy out of sight.

So will we be getting nuclear in a few weeks after the election or will it still be the Greens fault we're not planning for it?

The issue lies with Fingal County Council.

The government parties have 14 out of 40 seats. With the general election imminent, none of the others want to solve it and blame the government.

The planning process is independent of political motivations but if the councilors did have a say I think they would be taking the residents concerns into mind moreso than the airlines

I got an email from Aer Lingus earlier today

Hello Indianapolis! Fly from €499 return

Another route is unlikely to help matters

…and best of luck with navigating both of these acts to!

1999 Electricity Regulation Act

2006 Strategic Infrastructure Act

This surge is equivalent to powering 280,000 homes annually, reduce carbon emissions by 270,000 tonnes, and includes 373MW from domestic rooftops.

One point from the quoted press release - I see this all the time and this is a prime example of the 'spin' used. Claims of "powering 280,000 homes annually" are continually made about every renewable project, whether it's wind farm or solar or otherwise. If one was to add up all the homes announced in every press release over the years we'd have well exceeded the c.2 million homes in Ireland, multiples of times over.

Yet, household customers are reliant on generation from gas and other fossil fuels for electricity supply. These claims of X thousands of homes should be called out for the blatant codology that they are. False advertisement.

Where did €530 million go? The C&AG report into Administration of carbon tax receipts cannot account for it. Carbon tax goes to the central funds.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I asked a question about the €530 million that is missing. That is according to C and AG report, not my report. The Tánaiste quotes the C and AG when he wants to. Deputy Farrell asked questions that had not been answered.

I asked a question about the €530 million in carbon tax that has been robbed from the people and that was supposed to go back into retrofitting and the Tánaiste went from this pillar to that pillar to the other pillar. It is a case of around the houses and mind the dresser but he will not answer the question. He goes canvassing every day and gets questions he cannot answer. He can only waffle. This is fact. This is from the Comptroller and Auditor General. Do we give up altogether if we do not accept his reports? We are talking about €530 million out of the €1.36 billion collected from people who are trying to survive, carry out their business and travel to work and the Tánaiste tells us all about what is spent here and there. I asked a question about the €530 million that is missing. Tá sé imithe - like snow off a ditch. It does not matter to the Government anymore. The bike shed is chickenfeed according to this. There is €530 million unaccounted for according to the Comptroller and Auditor General. These are not Mattie McGrath's words so spin your way out of that.

Carbon tax is just another angle to tax our labour while in parallel driving up the cost of living and padding state expenditures. If you wonder about the motivations behind the climate narrative. Look at the vested interests (politicians, ruinable energy, SEAI schemes, eNGOs, media and academia), there is a torrent of taxpayer money up for grabs.

The 2020 Programme for Government committed to increase the basis of carbon tax rates from €26 to €100 per tonne of carbon dioxide by 2030 (raising an estimated €9.5 billion over the 2021 – 2030 period) and to use that revenue in specific expenditure programmes including ‘just transition’ schemes, retrofitting and sustainable farming. Current carbon tax rates are based on charging €56 per tonne of carbon dioxide. source

So where does Irish household spending go? Housing, transport, food, fuel/light. We need Diesel and Ad-Blue (de-ionised water + urea (produced from natural gas)) to move everything around the country, carbon tax works it's way into the cost of everyday living. How much more productive do we have to become to afford this tax?

In theory the planning process is supposed to be independent of political motivation, but the reality is that in 2023 Eamon Ryan was all over the An Bord Pleanala appeal on the Shannon LNG terminal arguing that it was contrary to government policy, and got the decision he wanted. The High Court just overturned that decision as An Bord Pleanala, and subsequently Eamon Ryan, were incorrectly on what government policy was.

The situation in Dublin Airport comes under the remit of Eamon Ryan Minister for Transport, and Catherine Martin Minister for Tourism and not as much as a cheep from either of them.

It doesn`t seem the greens have a problem with using political clout when it comes to the planning process when it suits their agenda, while hiding behind the rules when it doesn`t.

Yes, the council planners in Fingal are sitting on it and whatever decision they make will be appealed to ABP. If we get a final final decision by 2026 we would be lucky.

There's also a court case due to be heard in December sometime taken against the IAA by certain airlines. The IAA have said priority should be given to airlines already at Dublin which effectively forces Delta and American out. Why Delta don't use the money they are spending on this case to run out of Shannon is beyond me

I would find it nigh impossible to believe that the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) do not know the difference between installed capacity and the capacity factor for solar.

What they posted was very much a lie.

Yes, and he was caught out by the high court. That's exactly my point.

He is being cowardly about it, no doubt, personally I expect nothing less, but if what he stands for is less planes in the sky he's getting that result

"Green policies" go beyond major infrastructure projects. Here is a good presentation from Polysee, that highlights how a housing scheme in Killarney has been scuppered between an bord pleanala and the department of housing.

When you think it could not possibly get any more inane during a housing crisis, planning permission is refused for 228 homes because of bats that are not even an endangered species and light affecting tree growth.

This whole greening agenda is turning the country into a lunatic asylum.