Irish goals are golden, however, there are elements that circumvent the climate commitments to sell another company on coming to Ireland.
March 21, 2018
By Kevin O'Sullivan
The Government (click here) should set an ambitious target for Ireland of producing 70 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, which would help transform the energy sector and benefit consumers, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA).
The call by the IWEA, which represents the wind industry – including the majority of windfarm operators in Ireland – is based on the findings of a study it commissioned which shows such a target was technically possible and, if achieved, would be cost neutral for consumers.
The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment should set this 70 per cent challenge for the renewable energy industry, said newly-appointed IWEA chief executive Dr David Connolly.
Ireland had the required expertise built up over the past two decades “across academia, system operators, regulators, and the entire renewable industry to meet the target”, he told the IWEA spring conference in Dublin....
All that hard work and investment only to have some corrupt politician give it all away again and defeating the greenhouse emissions targets for Ireland. Stop them!
Every country's government and every company's leadership should be expecting demands for environmental studies to adhere to the publics' right for a safe and sane climate. This is crazy. Apple is simply walking into Ireland as if it is above the law. Well, there is one law that no one is above and that is the law of nature and the climates of Earth.
Wall Street needs to respect the planet. They should not moan and groan over environmental statements demanded by the people. Wall Street should be walking into investment opportunities with plans to improve the greenhouse gas emissions target for every country. Wall Street has the resources and now it is time to stop asking for handouts and giveaways, so much as presenting investment WITH pre-determined climate enhancements that far exceed government demands.
Enough of this immoral behavior by Wall Street because they have money to spend. Wall Street CANNOT AFFORD to seek concessions on Climate. Absolutely not. If Wall Street wants to invest in Ireland, it should be above speculation and ridicule by anyone else, in planning for climate actions within it's investment that exceed expectations of law.
Get it done! Stop harassing governments to end their pledges to their people.
February 9, 2018
By Mary Carolon
An Bord Pleanála’s approval for the first phase (click here) of tech giant Apple’s planned €850 million data centre in Co Galway “turned European law on its head” and took no account of Ireland’s climate change obligations, the Supreme Court has been told.
A three-judge court has deferred its ruling on whether two objectors to the centre have met the necessary legal test to bring an appeal to the Supreme Court aimed at quashing the board’s approval.
Having heard arguments on the appeal application today, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, sitting with Mr Justice John MacMenamin and Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, said the court would publish a written decision in due course.
Before any appeal can be brought to the Supreme Court, it must find the case raises a legal issue of general public importance or an appeal is desirable in the interests of justice.
The leave application by Sinéad Fitzpatrick, who lives close to the planned development, and Allan Daly, of Athenry, is opposed by the board and Apple. The application follows the High Court’s rejection of their case last October.
Oisín Collins BL, for the objectors, said the board was legally obliged to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of Apple’s entire “masterplan” for eight data halls, which will increase total demand on the national grid by 6-8 per cent, and not an EIA of just one hall.
The overall grid connection planned at Athenry would have a footprint equal to Dundrum Town Centre but there was no national assessment and no strategic assessment concerning how data centres being built across the country would be supplied with energy, he said.
Something has “gone badly wrong” when the State’s planning board was contending the entire Apple development may not be built until the 2030s so it was therefore not appropriate for the court to look 20 years into the future, he said.
