"Green" policies are destroying this country

It was Metro North 20 years ago and nobody knew which it was. Now it is Metro Link and the only thing that has changed is the name.

This a million times. That and approval of the return scheme here without actually condsidering other ways people were recycling. Their arrogance is stupendous.

Yes, all I'm saying is that's one area of the country that they might gain traction

Most of the green party ran on the basis of wind energy… How did that go for them?

https://www.radiokerry.ie/news/government-committed-to-irelands-energy-supply-through-north-kerry-lng-terminal-417506

Were you not quite recently wallpapering this thread with claims that a SF led government would just continue with the Green Party`s proposals for wind even though SF never said anything even remotely close ?

Oh no, will somebody please think of the NGOs!

Hopefully the new government will begin to rebalance the burden away from the individual farms and contractors and build climate protections more into the generation of the energy they consume and the supply chain they use.

We have the finest agri produce in the whole World, its time to stop bureaucracy getting in the way of that excellence.

We know they were set by a mixture of arsonists and carelessness. Do you think people are thick?

But the drought conditions in parts of California that provide the dry fuel for these fires have certainly been caused by changing climatics.

This includes an absolute drought in large areas of southern California from 2011-2017 and again from 2020-2022.

If it wasn't for climate change, the fires wouldn't be as severe. If amazes me that seemingly intelligent people fail to make that final and entirely logical link.

Look, I'm against reactionary, experimental, unproven climate mitigation measures, that just end up costing ordinary consumers more in tax and prices. Its a sinful waste of money, time and energy and I'd completely switch the dial over to adaption and future proofing.

But I don't deny the science behind the reality.

Ah here, I normally like your contributions to this discussion but I have to disagree here with some of what you've just posted.

In semi-arid parts of the world - fire, wildfire, whatever you want to call it is part and parcel of those areas natural phenomenon just like flooding is to the more temperate climes.

The problem with the fires in LA's suburbs is with housing being placed in these fire-prone areas. They have tried mitigation via putting out fires for decades and with half-hearted success. The outcome from such measures is that areas which should have naturally burned in the past have not done so for a long time.

Couple that with 'environmental policies' not to thin and remove scrub from the land (granted, a labour intensive function) means a huge build up of fuel for the fire. It's not one bit surprising to see such wildfires break out, a few of which are natural (via dry-lightning) and many via arson as you quite rightly point out.

The lesson here for any planner is - if you are allowing housing to be built, you better be sure that said housing is well away from natural disaster zones such as areas prone to wildfires, flooding, coastal issues, etc…

Unfortunately the greed of planners means they buckle to the developers insistence and perhaps a brown envelope or two and bedamned with the eventual gullible consumer who only ever wanted was a noice house and a view.

When I posted recently about the grid been a mix, it was about the grid now. You lied again and it's embarrassing. Now stop quoting me as I no interest in these ramblings of nonsense. As I said, cop on to yourself. It's pathetic.

Oh I'm sure you'd love me to stop quoting you. The problem is you've been spouting this nonsense for so long that the quote mine is bottomless. You've been waving the (wrong) government report in people's faces forever, as evidence that the future grid is planned to include natural gas. Your attempts to now squirm off the hook are a bit cringeworthy but feel free to keep trying … I can provide quotes all day.

Why do Irish people say we have the best agri produce in the world? Surely farmers in Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Brittany, Asturias, Italy, Argentina etc. say theirs is the best too?

FF and SF had wind as a huge part of their policies for energy generations.So did others.

Wind generation coupled with a publicly owned electricity supply is a good idea. The cheaper wind energy in the mix goes a long way to keeping prices low for consumers. Paying the private wind power generators the same as what you pay the (also private) gas power generators destroys any benefit to cheaper wind energy. Look at prices in France for example where the network is publicly run. While Aitricity were charging us 40c/kWh EDF were charging French customers 16c/kWh

Someone who doesn't cycle complains about cycle lane in shocking twist.

I do cycle. We have loads of cycle lanes that go nowhere and none that go where people want to go.

Not sure how much more accessible you want to buy a bike, shops all over Ireland, bikes for every budget, huge second hand market and tax rebates to buy bikes.

What tax rebates are there to buy bikes? We have grants for buying EVs as well as tax rebates on VRT and VAT… Conversely I'm fairly sure we pay full VAT on bikes

Cycling is something you should want to do for your own health.

I do cycle. For recreation. If I cycled day-to-day I'd be cycling to work and sitting in sweaty or wet clothes for 8 hours, not sure how that is good for my health, conversely you'd very easily catch pneumonia doing that

My work commute is 65km from Limerick to Mallow, where it often rains. I have cycled the greenways of Waterford and Limerick which is about 80km for the return journeys of each although I become quite the splashzone when I return home

Not having a go but the assumption many make that everybody lives and works in Dublin is part of the problem