SPECIAL REPORT: A look at the wind energy debate

A United Nations (UN) report on climate change warned last week that storm surges, flooding and rising sea levels will wreak increasing havoc on our lives unless Governments take urgent action to reduce carbon emissions.

Later in the week, the warnings were emanating from the US: Europe needed to become more energy independent as its dependency on Russian gas was giving Moscow far too much political leverage, as witnessed by its limp response to the seizure of Crimea. In the same week, Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte attended the Oireachtas Environment Committee, where the generation and use of electricity in this country was the order of the day. Amid cries from TDs and senators that fuel poverty needs to be tackled, Mr Rabbitte backed “our unique wind resource” as our most realistic way of meeting our EU renewable energy targets.

Wave, hydro and tidal energy “are not an answer today or tomorrow”, he said, and “the advice is that we don’t have the biomass”. His department’s green paper on energy is to go to Cabinet in three weeks after which it will be debated in and outside the Oireachtas. But the energy debate isn’t confined to this country.