Euro poll rivals put the wind up each other in energy row
FIANNA Fáil senator Lisa Chambers has been accused of peddling ‘deliberate misinformation’ by her Coalition colleague and European election rival Pauline O’Reilly of the Green Party.
A bitter war of words has broken out between the candidates, who are both seeking to be elected in the Midlands-North-West.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Ms Chambers branded Green Party leader Eamon Ryan ‘Dublin-centric’ and said the ‘climate-change agenda’ was placing areas of the constituency in a ‘green straitjacket’. Ms Chambers also accused Mr Ryan of thwarting development of floating offshore wind farms along the Atlantic seaboard.
But in a scathing rebuke, Green Party chair and senator Ms O’Reilly said that it was ‘interesting that Lisa’s discovered the potential for wind energy just when she is about to run for election’. ‘Lisa, flotation energy is developing in relatively calm water, about 10m wave height. That’s very different to the Atlantic. You either are purposely misleading people for cheap shots, or you don’t know what you are talking about,’ she wrote on Twitter/X.
She added: ‘What she hasn’t discovered however are the facts.
Floating offshore offers huge potential but industry experts say the technology isn’t ready for west. Back to school Lisa!’ In response, Ms Chambers claimed that Mr Ryan’s policy is to prioritise the east and south coast ‘and leave the west behind’. ‘Surprised you would support this Dublincentric approach,’ she added.
The Fianna Fáil senator also said she met Mr Ryan and his officials last year to advocate for mapping the west coast.
‘Also a commercial floating off shore wind project has just received planning approval in Scotland so the technology is here,’ she wrote. ‘We need to start planning and preparing, we’re not ready to install turbines off the west coast yet but your party leader has the breaks applied so we can’t even get started. Are you happy he’s prioritising the east and south coast?’ She added that ‘other countries with less opportunity’ are powering ahead and that ‘we haven’t even crossed the start line’ because the Green Party and Mr Ryan ‘are saying no to the west coast’.
Ms O’Reilly subsequently took another swipe at Fianna Fáil, claiming that all offshore renewable energy projects in the west could have been under way if the party was willing. ‘Yes Lisa. I’ve visited farms in Scotland. Floating exists, but not yet for the west. If your own colleague was willing, or indeed if FF had discovered it before 2024, we could have done all DMAPS [Designated Maritime Area Plans], but clearly it was only a priority for the Green Party. Great that it’s happening,’ she said.
In an earlier post to X, Ms Chambers wrote that offshore wind has the potential to ‘green’ the country and fuel agriculture, industry and homes with green sustainable energy.
Responding, the Green Party senator branded the post’ greenwashing and deliberate misinformation/lack of knowledge’.
The Department of the Environment has stated that a new plan-led approach to offshore renewable energy (ORE) was approved by the Oireachtas in May 2023. It added: ‘A new Future Framework policy will establish an evidence-based pathway for longer-term ORE developments beyond 2030, including with regard to the deployment of floating offshore wind technology.’
‘Haven’t crossed the start line’