The Day at the Dáil
On the 28th November 17, 10 students from the ‘Off Grid’ YSI team visited the Dáil offices to meet with TD Deputy Bríd Smith and TD Eugene Kenny to
discuss our project, and renewable energy across Ireland.
We were interested in meeting Bríd after reading about her proposed Bill to ban new licenses being distributed for the exploitation of fossil fuels- a notable step for Ireland environmentally, as we would become only the 3rd country worldwide to enact such a bill. We were very interested to talk to her both about her opinions surrounding Irish attitudes to climate change, and about our project, and the impact it could have by setting an example to other schools and communities around the country.
We began by talking to Gino and Owen, an associate of Bríd’s, about the dangers of entrusting the future of the environment to large fossil fuel corporations. Owen told us that ‘currently, energy in this country is geared towards fossil fuels’, which is a dangerous position for any country to be in, looking to the future. Ireland is ranked as one of the poorest-performing nations in Europe when it comes to taking decisive action to prevent global warming and climate change- and for valid reason. Currently, the Irish Government focuses primarily on supporting and incentivizing large private-sector oil, gas, and peat companies for energy. Relying on non-renewables to provide energy for our country may seem more convenient and profitable short term, but will leave disastrous effects on our planet for future generations. This isn’t a hypothesis- global levels of CO2 in the atmosphere passed 400 parts per million in March- a disaster-level figure, and we have already seen the devastating effects of it in recent natural disasters. Even from a purely economic standpoint, a small financial shift in focus now from fossil fuels towards renewable energy could save vast amounts of money and lives in the future, when the next generations have to deal with the consequences of our current actions. Short-term convenience and profit should not be the government’s main focus when it comes to energy, we firmly believe, and leaving fossil fuel corporations to decide our fate will not deliver the changes we need to save the environment.
Having discussed our beliefs about renewable energy in Ireland, Owen encouraged us to see our project in the grander scheme of things in Ireland. Although our project is small-scale and limited in how much solar energy it can actually deliver, it has the potential to be a significant example of the enormous potential for small-scale communities, like our school, to come together and make genuine changes for the benefit of the environment, rather than just remembering to switch off the lights when we leave the room.
Unfortunately, as things look, our project will also be an excellent example of the difficulty to gain support or backing from the government for community-driven projects like these, and of the unavailability of funds to facilitate projects like these. We went on to describe the obstacles we had encountered so far during our project: the limitations of the planning permission process on community projects of this scale (any solar installations over a total area of 12m squared require planning permission). Also the lack of funds available to a project like ours: as a student-driven project, in a school, we have no capital of our own to invest, and we have found it extremely difficult to obtain grants, sponsorship, or any kind of external funding.
However, Bríd and Owen reassured us that our project was in no way impossible; solar panel technology has come on in leaps and bounds recently, and is by no means infeasible for community projects. Bríd also recommended we contact organizations like Not Here Not Anywhere, and Stop Climate Chaos, to see would they have any advice for our project. They also encouraged us to contact Ministers Richard Bruton and Dennis Naughten directly, to discuss our project with them, and see in what ways they might be able to help us. We were then told about a debate about Ireland’s stance on renewable energy taking place in the Oireachtas in January, and Bríd encouraged us to submit an application to explain our project and our goals to that. Hopefully it could help us gain recognition for our project, and might raise awareness inside and outside the government about the changes that need to be made in our country’s attitude towards the environment.