While the decision to grant planning permission to the power plant in Edenderry to 2023 is very welcome the stipulations contained in today’s decision could have implications for the plants at Lanesboro and Shannonbridge.
There is no doubt that today’s decision is good news and especially for the people working in Edenderry but in the stipulations there could be implications for the plants at Lanesboro and Shannonbridge whose licences are up for renewal in 2017. One requirement is that one million Euro must be provided up front for the de commissionning of the plant in 2023 and also the amount of bio mass and meat and bone meal to be burned is being restricted. This is a strange decision as we are sending bio mass and meat and bone meal out of the country at the moment.
The original plan was for these plants to be in operation until 2030 and I will be pressing the Government that they adopt that strategy going forward in the case of Lanesboro and Shannonbridge. We have to ensure that the jobs are safeguarded and that the people concerned have some certainty about their future. In the case of Edenderry the workers there will have to find other employment after 2023 and I will be proposing that the Lanesboro and Shannonbridge operations continue to 2030 so that the workers there will not be in the same position.
