"Green" policies are destroying this country

Few things

1. The green party are objecting to the LNG terminal pending the Energy Security report that is not yet published. The Greens have said they'll revise their position when that report is released. The report should look at all options, over the relevant timescales. Therefore, the benefit of LNG should be offset over the opportunity costs of investing in more sustainable longer term solutions.
2. A LNG terminal is not an 'Instant solution' as some people are on here saying 'What can we do in the here and now'. Any LNG terminal will take years to complete
3. Adding a single LNG terminal also adds another single point of failure. What if a boat crashes into the terminal and knocks it out of action for months, what if there is an explosion in the storage tanks...
4. The proposed site in Limerick is 600 acres, this would involve knocking down lots of trees and hedgerows (I only mention this because others felt it was a compelling argument against Solar) The 600 acre site may have some grass on it, but other than that and a few flower beds, very low biodiversity compared with solar farms that can still allow plants, insects and small animals to use the land)
5. The Proposed site will cost over 600 million euros and will take years to construct. Unless there is also a LNG pipeline to the power stations, all of the LNG gas will also need to be transported by road to the power stations to be burned at a large ongoing cost and with risks associated with transporting volitile chemicals by road.
6. The new LNG site will add significantly to the cost of all of our energy bills as we will have to pay market rates for gas, as well as the costs of construction and maintaining the LNG facility, and transporting that gas to the gas turbine power stations that we will also need to keep operating, and this infrastructure is expected to last up to 40 years, so your kids will be paying for this terminal even if we don't need the gas anymore.
7. For the same 600 million Euros, in Greece, they are building 2 250mw battery storage sites with a total capacity of 2000mwh. For day to day grid balancing, this would allow us store energy generated using clean renewable energy and release it almost instantly during the peak energy demand.
8. Adding additional grid storage and interconnectivity will allow us to retire our gas power stations, or at least consolidate them thereby cutting those costs. And given the variable element to the availability of wind power, the fuel to recharge the batteries will be cheap most of the time, as they will be recharged when supply exceeds demand (throughout the interconnected grid)
9. These grid scale batteries are an enabling technology. They are Load Balancers because they store excess power and this means we do not need to shut down power generation capacity when there isn't immediate demand for it. Combine this with local battery storage at plant and domestic scale, and smart grids and smart meters and the entire grid is much resilient to daily fluctiations in demand and supply.
10. The price of Battery Grid storage will fall over time as the technology matures. The price of Gas will only continue to increase and we are always vulnerable to the next energy crissi
11. For strategic reserves, ireland could use excess power to create green hydrogen, stored as ammonia and we could adapt our gas turbines to run on hydrogen instead of Natural gas. Doing this would make us energy secure, as we would be able to generate our own hydrogen reserves rather than compete for them in a volatile open market. Currently Green Hydrogen is much more expensive than Natural gas, but we're aiming to get to a world where hydrogen is much cheaper, and that requires investing in the infrastructure to produce it using surplus renewable power.

Well they should.

The law to ban exploration was a condition of the Green party that had to be accepted before they would agree to sign the Programme for Government and was proposed and introduced by the Green party. So no need for you to put any thought what-so-ever into that. It`s a fact.

What you and Green party supporters should be putting some thought into is the implications of that Green party sponsored law and the present proposed Green party bill on the banning of LNG in light of what the chairperson of the CRU, a state agency of Eamon Ryan`s department , had to say on energy security. Rather than the usual ignoring of reality in favour of rambling fantasy.

It makes perfect strategic and economic sense if you are looking at the long term instead of a 'strategy' of lurching from crisis to crisis

The Green policy of banning new oil and gas exploration 'is not destroying our country' In fact the opposite. Continuing to burn current proven reserves alone, will destroy our country, and the rest of the world, so adding to this by exploring for more oil and gas is utter madness in the long run.

What fact would that be ?

The one that it was the Green party that along with refusing to enter government until it was guaranteed, sponsored and proposed the ban on exploration licences, or the fact that the CRU, a state agency of Ryan`s Department have voiced the insanity of the Green party proposed ban on LNG and its implication for energy security which even presently we are not in E.U. compliance with.

Contractors should have something like Garda clearance stating they have no relatives/cronies living or dead who are / were politicians of any hue, too many state contracts in the hands of politicians cronies

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Why, chances are the guy fitting the insulation is just a subbie to the actual contractor and is getting paid cash in hand, Homeowner is getting screwed,State is getting screwed, you can't hire a bouncer on minimum wage without proper documentation but any old Ned can be let muck about with houses, Mica version 2 waiting to happen, substandard Chinese panels horsed on by someone who failed junior cert woodwork, but sure it'll be grand

All you need is inspectors, instead of having to get the local sleazy councillors halfwit cousin to batter and sledge the shite out of your attic, let everyone choose their own contractor and get the inspector out to certify it, there a two year waiting list on warmer homes because only a few have preferred status and can't do the work fast enough

While people are saying it can't be done, the Australians are going ahead and doing it (not their scummy central government, but the

In 2030, and probably sooner, they project green hydrogen to be price competitive with natural gas. But only if the investment is made now. And that investment won't be made if that money is diverted to exploring for more oil and gas and building redundant infrastructure

I'll bow to your knowledge then that you think its not