The ESB’s decision to halt electricity being generated at the Lough Ree Power Station in Lanesboro is “totally unacceptable”, according to independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice.
Reacting to the news earlier today, Wednesday, April 15, that the Lanesboro power plant is to halt production, the TD for Roscommon-Galway said:
“To put it bluntly, I am not buying the excuses being bandied about by the ESB for closing Lough Ree Power.
“I believe it is hiding behind an environmental excuse in order to close the plant. If you look at the temperatures over recent nights, they have fallen to -2° and -3° respectively.
I find it hard to believe that in weather conditions such as this, that there is a danger of the water temperature rising above the regulated level.
Describing the explanation as “more bluster and spin from the ESB”, deputy Fitzmaurice added:
“We saw last week how electricity generation was brought to an abrupt halt at the West Offaly Power plant in Shannonbridge. A commitment was given then that at least one of either West Offaly Power or Lough Ree Power would stay open.
“The ESB is hiding behind the excuse that the move to close Lough Ree Power is required on environmental grounds. Well then, let it provide us with the facts and the reasoning to show that this move is justified.”
The TD stressed that people who depend on the plants for employment “deserve honesty and truth on this matter”.
In particular, deputy Fitzmaurice said Bord na Móna workers and hauliers have been massively impacted by the ESB’s decisions recently.
I believe that economic reasons have a much larger role to play in these developments than what we are being led to believe. As it stands, you have to tender for electricity prices – and you have to be competitive, given the reported drop in demand.
“It looks as if generating electricity with peat is unable to compete with the likes of oil and gas at present, so tenders are not being secured.
“So if the ESB is hiding behind an environmental reason to justify the closure, it is totally unacceptable.”
The independent TD warned that, as a region, the midlands “is being totally left in limbo”, adding:
“If you look back, we were promised that a report on the Just Transition would be published in the first quarter of this year – this hasn’t been forthcoming.
This is the most unjust transition imaginable for workers who have given years of service to the likes of Bord na Móna.
“The ESB needs to be held to account on this matter,” deputy Fitzmaurice concluded.