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THREE GOVERNMENT MINISTERS will meet today with the workers of two peat-burning ESB plants which are set to close in the Midlands next year.
Ministers Richard Bruton, Paschal Donohoe and Josepha Madigan will meet with Bord na Móna and ESB workers in Offaly and Longford to discuss the government’s so-called ‘Just Transition’ plan for the region.
They will also be joined by junior minister and Longford-Westmeath TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.
It follows the announcement on Friday that ESB management will close the plants at Shannonbridge and Lanesboro after the government opted to end the harvesting of peat in the region.
The ESB had sought planning permission from An Bord Pleanála for the Offaly power station to transition from peat to biomass over a number of years, but the company’s application was rejected.
The decision to close the plants is expected to affect up to 80 jobs in the area, while a further 1,000 Bord na Móna workers who rely on the plants will also be potentially impacted.
Today’s talks are expected to focus on the creation of new jobs in retrofitting homes, the rehabilitation of bogs and in other areas.
The Government recently announced the creation of a €6m ‘Just Transition’ fund for the midlands, and ESB has announced that it will add €5m to this, bringing the total fund to €11m.
The funding will support re-training and re-skilling initiatives for workers and assist local communities and businesses in the area to adjust to low-carbon transition, and it is also hoped the plan will create hundreds of jobs to replace those that are lost.
The government visit will begin when Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton takes a tour of a rehabilitated bog this morning.
Last week, he announced that the government has been engaging with the European Commission to put in place an extensive Bord na Móna bog rehabilitation programme
“We are here… to listen to those affected and to see first-hand the new, sustainable opportunities that the transition to a low-carbon economy will open up,” he said ahead of his visit.
The Ministers will then meet with workers affected from both plants, while Bruton will also meet with union representatives and Oireachtas members.
Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe said the government acknowledged the impact of last week’s announcement, adding that the government should make an effort to ensure new business was created in the area.
“Government will support the midland communities who will be affected by the low-carbon transition at every step of this journey,” he said.
“Climate change is without doubt the defining challenge of our generation.
“Meeting this challenge will be impossible without difficult decisions and trade-offs but we will do it with the supports in place to ensure a Just Transition to a safer, cleaner and more environmentally conscious future.”
However, Independent TD and former Climate Action and Environment minister Denis Naughten told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 that those in the Midlands would not be ready for the closure of the plants next year.
“We’re talking about a substantial impact on the local economy with a very very short window to try to put alternatives in place, which will be challenging,” he said.
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Wish there was a fund to help me and the rest of Ireland back in 08 when we had to leave to find work. Sorry for the locals, but this has been on the cards for ages.
@david hynes: whilst it may have been on the cards for ages I believe the Govt sped up the process of moving away from peat. Further, management may have been giving false hope, unintentional or otherwise, as to the feasibility of transitioning to biomass.
Also, were there not some funds created in 08, just that they became swamped by the sheer magnitude of the downturn?
@Vocal Outrage: correct, it was expected that we would be burning peat until 2030, which would have seen a lot of the workers to retirement.
@david hynes: what a miserable thing to say/think. Irish begrudgery at its finest
A pair of Small Modular Reactors on each site will privide high quality well paid jobs for a hundred years building running, building and eventually decommissioning. High voltage power lines all ready in situ. It would allow Ireland to eventually decarbonise most of our public and private transport. Waste issue is manageable. SMRs are being designed to compete with Natureal Gas on cost. Country ends up with stable powergen without overreliance on intermittant renewables.
@Gavin Tobin: France are so delighted with their nuclear reactors that they’re closing down 14 of them. Can we really afford a 10 to 12 billion euro construction cost and more when things go wrong? “Electricite de France SA said repairs of faulty welds at a nuclear plant under construction in western France will boost the project’s cost by 14% to 12.4 billion euros ($13.6 billion), adding further financial strain to the cash-strapped atomic power giant.”
@Paraic: You obviously didn’t read my post about SMALL Modular Reactors. http://bene.ie/index.php/cost/
And your data on france is a bit out of date
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614579/why-france-is-eyeing-nuclear-power-again/
Also if we could afford Anglo at €35 billion with no return we can afford SMRs.
@Gavin Tobin: I notice that your link doesn’t quantify the build cost of small modular reactors of which you speak. But guessing that children’s hospital would be the blueprint for how to inflate construction costs. Also, nuclear power is a bad idea in the face of climate change because of the water requirements. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/30/heatwave-may-force-nuclear-power-shutdown-france-cooling-water/
@Gavin Tobin: yeah, because France hasn’t got a nuclear waste problem or anything. Why bother now and let future generations deal with it. “Après nous, le déluge”!
@Paraic: No shortage of water at Lanes Borough, Shannon Bridge or Moneypoint for that matter.
@Mark V: Correct France does not have a Nuclear waste “problem” .
@Gavin Tobin: really, because in France there’s a growing concern because beyond the cooling process of spent fuel, there is no long term plan of disposing the fuel itself, or the radiative materials, creating a problem for future generations.
@Gavin Tobin: No shortage of water at the moment, but during summer 2018 there was a scary while there when we couldn’t fill our paddling pools.
Always sad to see job loses but this is a dead industry and as semi state workers the impacted staff will receive redundancy packages that are much higher than the average worker would receive. Enter the 3 wise ministers bearing EUR 11M. Let us assume the ball will be kicked about on the other 1,000 staff for the next 20 years, this works out at 140k per employee. This money will then be used to retrain workers to retrofit houses, an industry which is already very competitive and will only be feasible in the medium if grants are given (more taxpayer money).
They might as well just walk out to Poolbeg Lighthouse on a windy day. Bring sack loads of money and let it all blow away in the wind!
3 government ministers for 80 workers who are going to be offered redeployment????????
Get back up to Dublin and run the country.
It’s not just Ireland. Germany is closing all 84 of its coal plants.
Ireland needs to stop burning peat as it creates huge amounts of co2 and particulates.
Next will be Moneypoint which burns coal.
It has always been Ireland’s problem: driven by morals rather than economics.
@Moorooka Mick: You mean driven by cute hoor projects that deliver decades of votes.
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