Labour opposed to ESB break up & renewables targets disappoint in White Paper
Issued : Monday 12 March, 2007
"The belated publication today of the outgoing government's Energy White Paper is welcome but hugely disappointing in terms of the challenge facing Ireland in developing its renewable resources and addressing the critical issue of climate change", said Labour's Energy Spokesperson Tommy Broughan.
"The Labour Party and myself are totally opposed to any break-up of the ESB or the atomisation of the company and its core grid and generation assets. The proposal to remove the transmission system from the ESB is unnecessary for competition and threatens the long-term national interest and energy security of the Irish people. The introduction of the All-Island Single Electricity Market later this year will greatly reduce ESB's capacity to set the marginal price of electricity and the recent agreement between ESB and CER will divest ESB of significant generation capacity. With further proposals for divestment and site sharing in the White Paper, ESB is set to become a mainly network company with some key strategic generation assets. The wrong-headed Dempsey proposal to transfer transmission assets to Eirgrid opens up the appalling vista of the future privatisation of the ESB with all the dangers to Ireland of externally controlled generation in a small isolated market.
"In the document the renewables agenda has been advanced little from the Green Paper. A more ambitious government might have sought (like the Labour Party's own White Paper submission) to have half of Ireland's electricity supply generated by renewables by 2020 and the bulk of our electricity based on renewables by 2030. Most disappointing of all, the White Paper contains no national targets for the overall contribution of renewable energy to the Irish fuel mix for the coming decades. It is little wonder given that just over 2% of overall Irish energy is now sourced from renewables after ten years of the Fianna Fail/PD government.
"Amazingly, there is also nothing on microgeneration in this document and little new on energy efficiency and conservation. A common refrain of "Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland" is the number of wonderful energy programmes which will be ready by the summer or autumn of 2007, long after the general election. These include the National Energy Efficiency Plan, the Sustainable Transport Action Plan and the 2006 Fuel Poverty Action Research Project.
"Under the Fianna Fail/PD government since May 2002, gas has rocketed by over 100% in price and electricity has soared by 60%. With these massive increases the recent government-commissioned Deloitte and Touche Report on the future of the ESB remarkably concluded that almost 20% of Irish households were fuel and energy poor. For this very reason the Labour Party is committed to ending fuel poverty in the lifetime of the next government. By contrast the Fianna Fail/PD White Paper merely restates the present inadequate policies and supports which currently condemn far too many vulnerable families around Ireland to live in conditions where they cannot afford to properly heat and light their own homes.
"The White Paper is high on aspirations but low on detail. For example, the document lists a series of objectives such as amending the licensing terms and updating rules and procedures for the exploration and production of Irish natural resources of oil and gas. Yet these are more vague hopes than concrete proposals as absolutely no details are provided on what type of licensing reform will be undertaken or even when and if the Indecon Consultants will report on this matter before the general election.
"It was hoped that with all of the submissions and critiques of the earlier Green Paper that Minister Dempsey and his colleagues would have responded in a much more comprehensive manner and revamped the final White Paper accordingly. However, the central policy proposal on the future of the ESB is fundamentally flawed and must be resolutely opposed. As our country and the world now faces a critical energy watershed in the context of climate change, the White Paper is seriously deficient with regard to renewables, energy efficiency, fuel poverty and securing the national energy interest for the long-term."
