The Irish company that imports coal from a Colombian mine accused of human rights abuses has recorded revenues of €2.3bn.

The European Commission will impose fines on us for busting our renewables and emissions targets. We may pay out €3bn in fines over the next decade, writes Victoria White.

The Government has fleshed out the next steps for the Project Ireland 2040 Plan and defended its strategy for promoting it.

ONE of the great challenges around trying to slow climate change, to avert something pretty close to chaos for our grandchildren and their children, is to make the issue everyday: To make the struggle relevant and an active part of our lives. 

Green party leader Eamon Ryan is is an even-tempered kind of guy, but make the economic argument for keeping Ireland’s only coal-fired power plant going and watch him get hot under the collar.

As environmental groups warn that decisions must be made about the future of the country’s biggest power plant and biggest producer of greenhouse gases, the ESB has said it saves customers up to €200m a year in electricity bills.

A fire on a coal mill feeder at one of the country’s largest electricity generating stations was brought under control by the fire brigade early yesterday.

A leading figure in Irish horseracing, Annemarie O’Brien, has backed a report on converting Ireland’s largest electricity station from coal to biomass.

We should be managing our resources while being aware that we share a small planet, writes Victoria White

The Irish Examiner’s Colm O’Connor discovers why hundreds of children were buried in an ancient ring fort in West Clare.

Some of the country’s biggest carbon polluters arestill failing to rein in their greenhouse gas output as Ireland prepares to back plans to hike the cost of excess emissions.

John Leahy (Irish Examiner, October 18) blames warped planning and windmills for destroying the beauty of Crosshaven. But it is Irish Don Quixotes who are attacking windmills believing them to be ferocious giants.

Cutting wind subsidies

Two articles, in the same edition of the (Irish Examiner, March 28) elegantly expose EirGrid’s dilemma in regard to the Government’s plan to meet EU 2020 targets for renewable energy by doubling the amount of on-shore wind power in the Irish system.

If the upgrade to the national electricity grid is not carried out, the country will face blackouts, Gridlink project manager John Lowry said yesterday.

The gradual conversion of the country’s largest power station from coal to biomass would allow Ireland to meet its renewable energy targets “in one single stroke”, according to a British energy expert who completed a report for one of the country’s anti-pylon groups.

Many objections are being aired about the negative impact of the proliferating electricity pylons, considered necessary to expand our electricity grid, to accommodate the growing number of wind turbines. Further grid extensions to accommodate wind energy are also envisaged.

A plan for the Shannon Estuary was launched yesterday, identifying key strategic locations to help further advance the development of the waterway for maritime-based industry and tourism.

South African police say a blast at a money exchange store in a mall in Johannesburg has killed at least two people and injured three.

The 695 workers at ESB’s Powergen section are to have their pay cut by up to 17%.

Planning permission has been refused for a giant €30m windfarm with turbines that stretch up to 500ft high.

A POWER station in Co Clare last year used approximately two million tonnes of coal to power its coal burners last year.

THE ESB’s power station at Moneypoint in Co Clare has admitted that it breached its pollution control licence 17 times so far this year and that the incidents were not reported to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Defiant residents in a coastal commuter town have threatened to disrupt work on one of the country’s largest energy projects over safety concerns.

RESIDENTS who live near an ESB power station had their houses and cars covered in an ash residue.

YOUR report headlined ‘Record day for wind energy’ (May 31) cited a figure of 1120MW achieved on Monday, April 5.

YESTERDAY Environment Minister John Gormley said he believed climate change is the most fundamental and far-reaching challenge facing humanity.

THE promoters of a €500 million gas terminal on the Shannon estuary have given assurances about the safety of a 26km pipeline which will run across country from Tarbert, in Co Kerry, to Foynes, Co Limerick.

Eirgrid has said that that by 2030 the Moneypoint power station will have closed, our peat supplies will be used up and that nuclear energy may have to be considered as an energy source.

THE 200 Polish workers who two weeks ago faced losing their jobs at the ESB plant in Moneypoint have been offered the chance to keep their jobs with new employers.

The 200 Polish members of the TEEU working on the Moneypoint power station refit in Co Clare today voted unanimously to accept the settlement terms of their dispute with ZRE.

Threatened strike action at the ESB electricity power plant in Moneypoint, Co Clare was narrowly averted tonight after a deal was agreed to pay wages owed to Polish workers.

The Labour Relations Commission is to oversee more talks today aimed at resolving a dispute at Ireland's largest electricity generation station.

The Labour Relations Commission is due to oversee further talks today in a bid to avert strike action at Ireland's largest electricity generation station.

Talks aimed at resolving a dispute between unions and management over unpaid wages for 200 Polish ESB workers are to resume today.

Talks aimed at resolving a dispute between unions and management over unpaid wages for 200 Polish ESB workers collapsed tonight with no agreement.

Union leaders tonight served strike notice on ESB as a row over pay for Polish workers intensified.

Unions and management at Moneypoint power station in Co Clare are meeting today to discuss a dispute involving 200 mainly Polish workers who have lost their jobs at the plant.

UP TO 200 Polish workers at one of the ESB’s main power stations, Moneypoint, last night voted in favour of industrial action claiming they have not been paid since the beginning of September and now face the prospect of losing their jobs.

Two hundred Polish workers at Moneypoint power station, who claim they haven't been paid since the beginning of September, are to ballot for industrial action this evening.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has said the fact that the ESB has fired a sub-contractor at its Moneypoint station shows that poor labour standards will not be tolerated in this country.