Energy policy reform - Dáil needs to rally around Ryan
Mr Ryan’s ambition is no more than what is required at a time of pessimism regarding the continued availability of carbon fuels and he should be encouraged and supported in his objectives.
He has promised that Ireland will become the world leader of Government-led renewable technology and energy conservation within five years.
This is wonderfully ambitious, and when considered along with the promise to cut CO2 emissions by 3% per annum, achieve energy savings of 20% by 2020, and to have 33% of all electricity supplied by renewable energy within a decade you realise the scope of his intentions.
He also realises that the problem is at least as much a cultural one as it is a technical one, citing our ability to spend €30,000 on a kitchen while just barely meeting the regulatory standards for insulation.
A matter of political and individual will is how he describes it.
Mr Ryan has outlined new objectives for the ESB saying that their success will be measured in how little they sell rather than how much they sell.
He also spoke of his determination to increase our usage of wind-generated power and his ambition to be a world leader in wave and tide technology.
No doubt the naysayers so disparaged by the Taoiseach will sneer and find all sorts of reasons to suggest that these targets cannot be met, reasons to sit frozen like a rabbit in the ever-dimming headlights of traditional energy sources.
The breath of this ambition and Mr Ryan’s urgency have the potential to be inspirational and indeed could well become just that if his proposals get the full endorsement and active support of the Taoiseach.
It would not be too much to expect that in a matter of such over-riding national interest that all of the parties in the Dáil act as one and work to achieve these or very similar objectives.
There need be only one caveat: Mr Ryan’s faith in technologies that have yet to show a capacity to completely satisfy our needs may not be entirely rewarded.
It is necessary to have a parallel process considering the nuclear option — the elephant in the corner of the room to match the rabbits frozen in the headlights.
Only one thing is certain, we will need huge supplies of energy but we may not have a choice of where it comes from. We might not like the idea of a nuclear plant in Ireland but we do not have the luxury of not considering the option.
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