"Green" policies are destroying this country

You may not have mentioned the Soc Dems, but it also goes to show how parties look on, not just international obligations they are supposed to fulfill ,but domestic obligations as well if they see the possibility of trouble from the electorate down the track. They look for a mudguard. Labour already know how that works after water charges, everyone signed up for Slainte Care a Soc Dem initiative which the Soc Dems obviously felt was the right thing to do when in opposition, but when offered the Ministry in government to put it in action, exited the stage quickly realising the would be the mudguard on the issue.

A somewhat cynical view perhaps but for me a politicians while hoping to do good for the country has the primary aim of not doing themselves any harm when it comes to being re-elected. The voters outlook more or less comes down to James Carville`s quote of "It`s the economy stupid" in that they will be very loath to vote for more taxes unless the see a clear economic advantage for them in the not distant future. The Green`s problem in that is the missteps of the past and the danger of a shortage of energy supply going forward with 70% being supplied from wind energy leave the very politically vulnerable.

If money is not a problem, or at least if the carbon taxes can be used to lessen it, then that percentage may be even possible. But it would require a bit of toning down of the rhetoric on ideology and accept that while fulfilling the obligations, with the present options available the overall affect will be less than they are aiming for. Much like Germany with nuclear and gas.

As we are now to me, with the present options available we are like surgeons attempting open heart surgery before proof that anesthetics work. Not a great chance of the patient surviving unscathed to much degree.

Mobile phones took 10 years before they became commonplace and another 10 before they became affordable to all, these guys seem to think that people will just fork out 30k for something that does everything awkwardly compared to what they already have, it'll be years before the tech is good enough and still useless to half the planet,

Lift your myopic gaze slightly above a single interconnector

We need to produce 10 times what we need, with multiple backup interconnectors to norway, uk, france etc to sell and backup local and participate in the European supergrid

Its like been dropped into some 80's conversation here

Rather than daydreaming about a future where some mystical hand will just flip a switch somewhere in the world and shower you with 100% green energy when your national grid is about to shut down because you cannot generate enough of your own try, reality and a viable solution to the problems of being self sufficien rather than being at the mercy of others for your needs.

The main issue with using gas peaker power stations to smooth out demand on the grid is that most of the time they will by lying idle. When we get to 2x the current installed capacity of wind then we will be almost self sufficient in electricity for most of the time. This means that those expensive peaker stations will sit idle for 90% of the time, but these are private concerns and no one will accept having their valuable asset sitting idle for most of the year generating no income. Either the government will have to take them over (unlikely) or we will have to pay significant retention bonds to have them ready for dispatch when needed.

A better solution is the solution the EU is pursuing, which is the HVDC supergrid and significant battery and pumped storage infrastructure. Li-ON batterys at commercial scales have the secondary benefit that they will eventually flood the domestic market with cheap second life batteries as their regular replacement cycles are reached, when this starts to happen the grid will become massively more resilient and sustainable energy will become ubiquitous in just about every household (even if only a backup bank in every home).

This is a massive strategic challenge but its happening. Ireland has approached things peacemeal and with little overall strategic plan which is why we are encountering the prospect of outages now. Market forces will smooth out these problems as cheap solar and wind are pushed out by commercial enterprises to replace no longer economically viable gas stations.

I predict a rocky road, but fortunately for a change I don't think our government can balls it up no matter how hard they try.

In fairness I think you, (and even Eamon Ryan), may at least be starting to get it. Whatever about you, Ryan appears, with the possibility of just one plant being out for maintenance, appears to at last get that shutting down plants simply on the basis of wind generated power increasing, where there is then no back up if the wind drops, will lead to large scale blackouts with the options now available to us.

You are not quite there yet though if you believe the markets are the answer to the problem. The markets are not some benign entity there for the overall good of society. That responsibility falls on government. The markets are private investors whose one and only aim and interest is to make as much profit from society as possible. One example, and one very much backed by the EU until the European Court of Justice due to challenges by a number of countries resulted in them pulling their necks in has been the markets and water conservation.

If there is one thing to learn from private business it`s that it will not put all it`s eggs in one basket, ignore the problems, and hope that somewhere in the future technology will provide the solution before they are forced out off business.

It's not used as a fertiliser.

Couple of points. As already said it is not a fertiliser, but no great surprise if the Greens think it is as their knowledge on agriculture and understanding of what it contributes to our economy could be written large on the back of a postage stamp.

Nobody said there was a need to import it, but banning its production here while importing it from around the world, rather than lowering,raises emission levels Typical green inability when it comes to joined up thinking.

I'm less bothered by the carbon taxes than the complete lack of evidence of it actually being spent on environmental measures. Need to see a whole lot more of that.

Peat, which is what you were talking about. Its water retention ability and PH value is why people use it.

No, but it would be useful for plants that like that type of soil.

What kind of way to frame it is that? The government want us to pay carbon taxes and increased fuel costs etc but are providing zero alternatives for most people to switch to cheaper alternatives. EVs cost a fortune and if you live in a house without parking then tough shiite on you. Heat pumps, solar panels and retro fitting costs an absolute fortune that many can't afford and the available grants are miniscule. Well tough luck on you I guess.

I and many want to do the right thing but we are not enabled to do so and instead just taxed more and more. I get carbon taxes can change behaviours but ONLY where there are viable and affordable alternatives - otherwise it is nothing but another money gouge from people and won't overall reduce emissions as people have no other alternatives.