We have legislated ourselves into a corner of complete energy dependence
Nine EU coastal states have signed a declaration which commits them to supplying 10 per cent of the EU’s energy needs by 2050. That’s 28 years from now. The present output of EU offshore wind is 28 Gigawatts (28GW). Ireland committed to a target of 7GW by 2030 but Eamon Ryan, the Green Party leader […]
Irish energy policy is divorced from realities of a new cold war
The US and Europe now know that Putin’s response to sanctions imposed for his brutal and repugnant invasion of Ukraine is to cut off the Nordstream 1 gas pipeline until those sanctions are lifted. This will have major implications for the EU economy, especially Germany’s, and for energy prices in the medium term. Lifting the […]
Nonsense on stilts to demolish €200m Derrybrien wind farm during an energy crisis
In March, the ESB announced that it was going to decommission a big electricity wind farm in Co Galway after the board members at An Bord Pleanála over-ruled a recommendation of its inspector to grant an order for its retention in a process known in Irish planning law as “substitute consent”. Substitute consent allows a […]
Sinn Féin’s housing policy effectively serves notice to quit on private landlords
Clarity is beginning to emerge about what Sinn Féin wants to do even if there is little transparency about who really runs the party. The party has focused on housing policy, we are told. But the small print on its plans is only becoming decipherable now. If they get into power after the next election […]
Why on earth would we need a constitutional referendum on the right to housing?
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is now seeking to co-operate with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). He had previously entered into a political and economic co-operation agreement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Russia has reverted to its traditional status of an imperial autocracy, with Putin exercising absolute personal power in succession […]
Be wary of crocodile tears of politicians over exit of private landlords
It was an entirely predictable outcome of recent changes to landlord and tenant law that many single-property landlords would decide that the changes tilted things so badly against them that they would exit the rental market by selling their properties and for that purpose seek vacant possession. Not merely was it predictable; it was very […]