Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER ALAN Kelly has admitted that he would not want to live beside a wind turbine.
The Labour Party’s deputy leader questioned who would want a wind turbine beside their house as he answered questions about the government’s renewable energy policy on local radio this morning.
Several wind farm projects across the country have faced opposition in recent months with local action groups opposed to wind farms and electricity pylons in their area aiming to change the government’s energy policy.
Kelly recently told councillors in Donegal to drop changes to the county plan which had been aimed at increasing the minimum distance between pylons and homes.
Speaking on WLR FM this morning, Kelly was asked specifically about plans for 12 wind turbines to be constructed in Dungarvan and was then asked if he would have a turbine near his house. He responded:
“Personally, you wouldn’t want a turbine beside your house, of course not. Who would say that they would?,” he told the station.
He said that the government has laid down renewable energy targets and that it is his job to ensure the planning process for any turbine construction is “fair and balanced”.
He said that the Department of Environment will be releasing guidelines in relation to how and where turbines should be placed in the coming months which he claimed would “bring some clarity” to the matter.
Kelly also insisted that the planning process needs to be independent of the minister and that the rules around planning permission need to be clear, adding: ”That clarity will be brought into place in the very near future.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
This is a fabulous story; In school we learnt about Edward Jenner/Brunel/Stevenson etc (who indeed were extremely important) but why are we never taught about the advances made by Irish people whether it happened at home or abroad. If we knew more about the innovation and creativity that was driven by them, it might make us a more entrepreneurial people, and not so dependent on others to come in and fill that gap.
Why is there not a museum in this country dedicated to these people?
Not on the list but:
Parsons Family (Birr Co. Offaly) – Giant Telescopes and the steam turbine (although C.A. Parsons was born in London)
Robert Boyle (Lismore, Co. Waterford) – noted for investigating the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas: hence Boyle’s Law (P inversely proportional to V)
George Boole (UCC, Cork – born in England) – his abstract form of algebra, later refined, forms the mathematical basis of the modern electronic circuit.
Because no one has invented that yet, sorry you just did, well done!
Irish? Not really. Anglo-Irish or British, really.
We were never British no matter way you want to word it. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. We were never British. To be British you would have to be born in England, Wales or Scotland.
Great to see Rynd acknowledged at last. Other “ingenious Irish” inventions include… the stereo stethoscope, the submarine, the periscope, and the steam turbine that makes widespread electricity possible!
(We’ve lots more Irish inventions in our list here too: http://ingeniousireland.ie/2011/02/how-the-ingenious-irish-changed-the-world/)
have your say