Today Fianna Fáil party spokesman on Energy, Michael Moynihan, outlined the party’s energy policy. This is the culmination of much work and consultation over the past few months. It builds on some of the measures which the party introduced a number of years ago but most importantly, it tackles directly, the issues which have become very prominent in recent times i.e. the controversial roll-out of large scale pylon and wind turbine projects.

As a country, Ireland is still excessively dependent on energy importation to power our homes and businesses.  This is a precarious position to be in and makes the need for strong energy policy and frameworks immediately important.

Our goal should still be to move towards becoming a carbon neutral environment in the long-term. However, the goal posts have now shifted in terms of our overall energy and renewable energy targets. It’s vital that we now establish reviews of the outdated planning guidelines and fully assess existing proposals to build large scale energy related projects where there may no longer be such a need.

This document clearly sets out Fianna Fáil’s position on the important energy issues of today. Some of the key proposals from it include:

• Full review of current proposed wind farm and pylon developments in light of Ireland’s revised energy requirements
• Replace and update outdated planning guidelines
• A Ban on Fracking
• Expanded use of Biomass Energy
• Establish a “Green Deal Agency” to help consumers avail of energy efficiency incentives
• Reform the Energy Regulator to provide better competition and prices for consumers

The full policy document is available here: www.fiannafail.ie/energypolicy