McNamara seeks clarity on Moneypoint as blackouts loom this winter

“This week must have been a bewildering week for the workers in Moneypoint power station,” Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara told the Dáil this week.

Speaking during a debate on Climate Action on Thursday evening, Deputy McNamara sought clarity from the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan on the future of the West Clare power plant as the risk of blackouts loom across Ireland this winter.

Deputy McNamara said, “We were told it (Moneypoint) was to close. Now we are being told we face power shortages across the country and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, hinted that Moneypoint might not close as anticipated. We must bring to bear clarity on this point. If we have power shortages, we will be then importing power.”

There is no guarantee that any power imported will be any greener than the power generated at Moneypoint,” explained the Clare TD. “To be clear, I agree with the necessity to reduce carbon emissions. It is the political imperative of our time. I look forward to the day when Moneypoint is an innovative and green hub of energy production and hydrogen fuel manufacture, and we are harnessing the power of the Atlantic Ocean. In the meantime, though, we need to power the State. We must reduce our consumption of energy, but we must also meet that energy need.”

“We cannot end up in a situation where we have blackouts and we also cannot end up staving off that possibility with imported energy that is no cleaner than the energy we generate ourselves,” concluded Deputy McNamara.