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Opinion Charles Haughey’s election as Fianna Fáil leader – the Northern Ireland factor

What impact did Haughey’s stance (real or perceived) on Northern Ireland have on his successful election as Taoiseach and president of Fianna Fáil?

THE NEW PRIMETIME RTÉ mini-series ‘Charlie’ which vividly depicts the public and private escapades of arguably Ireland’s most brilliant – if flawed – politician Charles J Haughey, brings memories flooding back of Ireland during the late 1970s and 1980s. This was a time of prolonged economic hardship, industrials disputes, mass emigration and daily acts of violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. Haughey, Fianna Fáil leader from 1979 to 1992 and Taoiseach on three separate occasions, was at the centre of Irish life during this period.

The first episode of the new the ‘Charlie’ drama provided a colourful insight into the methods that Haughey employed to win the Fianna Fáil leadership contest in December 1979; a victory which ultimately allowed him to be crowned Taoiseach. What the programme did not reveal, however, was the extent that Haughey utilised the emotive subject of Northern Ireland to galvanise support among Fianna Fáil backbenchers for the presidency of his beloved organisation (as is revealed in my forthcoming monograph, Charles. J. Haughey and Northern Ireland, 1945-1992).

The leadership race

The leadership campaign for the presidency of Fianna Fáil pitted the traditionalist George Colley against the ‘self-made man’ Haughey. According to a confidential file from the British Embassy in Dublin both men were said to ‘loathe one another’. Haughey enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle; he liked the good things in life and favoured idolisation. Colley, on the other hand, disliked ostentation and valued his privacy. It was no secret at the time that Taoiseach Jack Lynch firmly supported Colley as his successor. Moreover, Colley had the overwhelming support of his cabinet colleagues in government. He was viewed as a safe pair of hands, cut from the same cloth as Lynch.

Behind the scenes, however, working with a small caucus Haughey was convinced he could secure the Fianna Fáil leadership. He decided that the subject of Northern Ireland and Irish unity, so close to Fianna Fáil supporters’ hearts, would comprise a central component of his election bid. Between September and early November 1979 a cohort of senior Fianna Fáil personalities, including party Senator Patrick Cooney and party TDs Síle de Valera (granddaughter of Éamon de Valera), Thomas McEllistrim and William Loughane, all delivered public speeches that directly challenged Lynch’s conciliatory stance on Northern Ireland. Although Lynch vigorously defended his Northern Ireland policy and publicly rebuffed each of his outspoken backbenchers, Haughey smelled blood.

He decided that now was the time to strike. In his mind it was a matter of when, not if, Lynch would resign. As Bruce Arnold recounts in his excellent biography on Haughey, during a lunch reception at the Royal Hibernian Hotel, during this period, Haughey reportedly noted that ‘Lynch and Colley had lost the party and it was only a matter of time before they would be routed’. The final nail in Lynch’s coffin came in early November with the double defeat in two by-elections in Co Cork, in which Fianna Fáil lost the Cork city seat and Cork North-East seat. These defeats came as a personal blow to Lynch, being as they were in his own backyard.

Coded attacks

On the back of these election setbacks Haughey decided to personally and publicly challenge Lynch’s stance on Northern Ireland. On 10 November Haughey delivered a ‘coded attack’ on Lynch at the annual Pearse Speech. The former claimed that the idea of partition was ‘totally inconceivable’ to Pádraig Pearse. ‘If he were alive today’, Haughey was reported at stating, Pearse ‘would be totally opposed to partition’.

Initially, the media paid little attention to Haughey’s comments. However, at the time Seán Dunigan of RTÉ did realise the significance of Haughey’s language. “You have to know the code”, Dunigan said. “They’re sending semaphore messages to each other…”. Haughey’s bid for the Fianna Fáil leadership had thus commenced.

Lynch, although in America, tried to face down Haughey’s challenge. In a prepared statement he recorded that ‘… we are concerned with the moral, cultural and material well-being of the Irish people and that can be advanced not by killing, not by death or hatred or destruction, but by life’. Rejecting the idea of Pearse’s ‘blood sacrifice’, he concluded, ‘The paradox of Pearse’s message for the Irish nation today is that we must work and live for Ireland, not die, and most certainly not kill for it’. ‘If he were alive today’, Lynch declared, Pearse would ‘reject violence and work peacefully for national unity’.

Haughey’s absence from a reception committee at Dublin airport to welcome back Lynch from his trip to the United States only helped to fuel speculation and was widely seen as an attempt by the unruly minister to undermine the Taoiseach’s authority.

Lynch, reading the signs, resigned as Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach on 5 December 1979. Addressing his final parliamentary party meeting as Fianna Fáil leader on the day of his resignation he spoke of the need for someone with a ‘new approach and fresh thinking’ to take over the leadership of his beloved party. With George Colley clearly in mind Lynch said that it was essential that the party elected a new leader ‘who will carry on the traditions established by the founders and successive leaders of Fianna Fáil’. Thus, on resigning he confidently (and naively) believed that Colley would secure the leadership of Fianna Fáil. Both he and Colley were to be bitterly disappointed.

Fatal misjudgement 

From the start of the leadership campaign Colley was ahead, but not to the extent that he believed. As James Downey aptly put it, ‘The complacent Old Guard failed to see the extent of the danger’. Rather than canvassing backbenchers for their support, Colley spent much of his time in his office. This was to be his fatal misjudgement. He and his supporters underestimated Haughey’s chances. Over the preceding years Haughey had assiduously groomed Fianna Fáil backbenchers, knowing one day he would call on their support for the presidency of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil TDs were placed under huge pressure in their hotels and lodgings in Dublin the night before the election to vote for Haughey. Some backbenchers were even bullied and intimidated into submission. According to recently declassified British government files some Fianna Fáil backbenchers had reportedly taking ‘bribes’ to support Haughey’s nomination for party leader.

The election took place on 7 December. When the vote was counted Haughey emerged triumphant, winning the Fianna Fáil leadership contest by six votes, 44 to 38. At the gathering Haughey spoke briefly, expressing his ‘thanks to the parliamentary party for electing him’. It was a remarkable victory. He had come a long way from the scandal of the Arms Crisis of 1970, when his political career had looked all but ruined. Almost ten years later he now stood on the brink of history – and by God did he know it! In his eyes all the years of strife, ridicule, and chicken and chip dinners had finally bore fruit. He became Taoiseach on 13 December.

The question arises, what impact did Haughey’s stance (real or perceived) on Northern Ireland have on his successful election as Taoiseach and president of Fianna Fáil? According to the British ambassador in Dublin Robin Haydon, Haughey’s positioning on Northern Ireland was certainly an important factor among the Fianna Fáil backbenchers, particularly given the ‘inadequately Republican nature of Mr Lynch’s Northern Ireland policy’. Moreover, one of Haughey’s backbencher supporters Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare Charlie McCreevy recalled that many of the younger party TDs, including himself, Albert Reynolds and Seán Doherty, ‘preferred Charlie Haughey’s Nationalist-Republican stance to that of Jack Lynch’.

In the final assessment, however, economic considerations, not Northern Ireland, were most probably the deciding factor. In truth, most backbenchers believed that Lynch would lose the next general election because of the weak economy. Therefore, they turned to Haughey in their droves in the hope that the new Taoiseach could secure an overall majority at the next general election and thus save their seats in Dáil Éireann. As the ‘Charlie’ series reveals backbencher Fianna Fáilers were to be sadly mistaken following Haughey’s general election defeat in the summer of 1981.

Dr Stephen Kelly is a lecturer in modern history at Liverpool Hope University. His forthcoming book, Charles J. Haughey and Northern Ireland, 1945-1992, is due for release in early 2016.

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11 Comments
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    Mute Gravel Pitt
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:23 AM

    We should build one in Cork – covering the whole county….

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    Mute Big Mickey
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    Feb 11th 2015, 2:43 PM

    Breasts.

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:24 PM

    Could cover cork, would be an improvement

    5
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    Mute Winston Teardrops
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    Feb 11th 2015, 11:49 AM

    “Firing” homes with “juice”. Apple are so street.

    59
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    Mute Eoin Fleming
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:37 AM

    Wouldn’t it better if they developed more power for their iPhone batteries?

    58
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    Mute GO GREEN
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    Feb 11th 2015, 11:23 AM

    This is good news and hopefullly more big rich companies will follow their example. Saw a progamme on tv last night about wind turbines in countries like Germany where locals are given a share in the wind farms unlike in Ireland where the locals are barely consulted let alone given a share.

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 12:01 PM

    Resistance to wind power in Germany is snowballing. And it needs to be noted that this resistance is grass roots and sustained almost entirely by volunteers and privately donated time and effort.

    In the latest wind energy critical site http://www.vernunftkraft.de here has a report summarizing the performance of Germany’s wind turbines in 2014. Again the result is so ugly that the wind industry does not want anyone to see it.
    Vernunftkraft.de writes in response to the wind industry’s recent boastings of yet another successful “record” year:

    Rolf Schuster finalized the evaluation of the actual wind energy feed-in data in order to counter the propaganda with honest figures.

    The most important result: 14.8 percent.

    14
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    Mute brian magee
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    Feb 11th 2015, 2:56 PM

    The program was very one sided. They didn’t mention the reason we use peat is for energy security, it’s the only fuel we have in the country that we can be self sufficient on. Yesterday we only had 12 MW of wind that’s less than 1% of our demand.

    How do you think the other 99% came from. Wind isn’t as green as it appears and doesn’t reduce energy costs

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    Mute Ten Major
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    Feb 11th 2015, 5:57 PM

    Second time today you trot out you anti green energy guff. You post a link that to a hoax story about windmills that you don’t deny two weeks ago, Then you decry solar power because a 32 year old obsolete technology solar array was decommissioned in the US as evidence that modern solar power is useless. Now you are here trying to convince us that one of the smartest and richest tech company on earth have got it wrong. If I remember you are also an ardent fan of nuclear….Agenda?Lobby much?

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 6:05 PM

    Make your mind up about which comment you are having trouble with or is the subject all too much for you?

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 6:17 PM

    Gosh, Apple are about to spend even more than Solyndra, the bankrupted Northern California solar-panel maker that burned through $535 million in federal guaranteed loans just to prove than solar Pv is a flop. But then roughly 80% of the Department of Energy’s $20.5 billion in loans granted “went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers–individualswho were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, orlarge donors to the Democratic Party.”
    In 2008, Mr. Obama promised his policies would create 5 million “green collar” jobs but failed , will Apple have the same success ?

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 6:23 PM

    We should copy Germany and plaster the place with 27000 wind towers. The low capacity factor of German wind turbines makes wind electricity expensive. Driven by increased costs from renewables, household electricity rates almost doubled from 13.9 eurocents per kilowatt-hour to 26.0 eurocents per kilowatt-hour from 2000 to 2013. Today, Germany has the second highest electricity rates in Europe, more than triple U.S. electricity prices. The story is even worse 2 years on

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    Mute Ten Major
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:59 PM

    My mind is made up Mort but I have a day job and don’t have time to spend my day blogging here pretending to be an ordinary Joe, so I don’t always have the time to counter your one man propaganda machine.
    Let’s see, any article on the environment and you are poo-pooing renewables and see nothing of any merit in them, even when Apple endorses solar you try to deflect by pointing to some article about Germany.Now when it is nuclear you see no wrong and even Fukuyama can be reasonably explained away, as if it could. Facts and figures always to hand. Any dissent and you cry luddite.

    All Muslins are bad. All Muslims. All Israelis are good. All. Anyone who questions this is a,- what’s that stock phrase you use? Oh yes, ‘Islamofacist apparatchik’. In other word, someone who disagree with you.
    You were a cheer leader when Ghaddaffi was overthrown & Libya descended into chaos. When people try to escape this hell by getting to Italy, there you are on the shore shouting, go home you are not wanted.
    Now you have the neck to tell me I am muddled?

    For anyone in doubt, read Uncle Mort’s exchanges with Charlie Carlisle. Caught right out there Mort. http://www.thejournal.ie/athea-wind-farm-1915304-Feb2015/#comments

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    Mute Ten Major
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    Feb 11th 2015, 8:20 PM

    Germany may have higher electricity price than the US but the don’t have the US reputation of being one of the world’s dirties economy per capita either. Germany is twenty years ahead in that sense. But the fossil fuel and nuclear industry will try everything to keep it down. No trick too sneaky.
    http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=340&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1679&cHash=a6ffbf36a98ab3ba82069d2486ebd7ae

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    Mute Stephen
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:24 AM

    So there not really gonna blow €850M, had it been a wind farm they were building different story, just saying.

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    Mute Tricia Golden
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    Feb 11th 2015, 1:26 PM

    Thank you!! My thought precisely! What a biased headline.

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Feb 11th 2015, 4:14 PM

    €750 million is roughly $850 million.
    “The farm will cost $850 million to build and will provide enough juice to fire 60,000 homes.
    Despite the enormous cost Cook insists that the farm will be more than enough to power Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino and will save the tech giant money in the long run.”
    What’s not clear about the article?

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:25 PM

    What is wrong with solar panels ? Fail to understand your criticism

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:26 PM

    What the hell is biased about the headline ?

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    Mute Tricia Golden
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    Feb 12th 2015, 2:21 PM

    The headline originally said “Apply blow €750 million….” which implies they’re wasting the money. My point was related to that. There headline made it sound like investing in solar energy was a waste. They’ve since changed the headline.

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    Mute Kevin Higgins
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    Feb 11th 2015, 12:41 PM

    Blow? It’s not oil or booze it’s solar. INVEST is the word you dummies

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    Mute Juninho
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:22 AM

    The Chinese marquee is notoriously tough to enter ;)

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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:42 PM

    Sugarcoated bullsh*t..

    There is nothing noble about what they are doing, they just want to enter the electricity market and cut costs to their own consumption, are they planning to give away the electricity they generate?

    What good have apple really done? If they wanted to make the world a better place why not start with their workforce, the only company I know of that has to install suicide prevention nets around their factory.. Provide your workers with a decent living wage! You can afford it! You are a $700billion company! Also stop ripping off the consumer with your iShite which is only made to last a couple of years…

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    Mute David Fortune
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:52 PM

    You mean Foxconn? Who made the laptop/phone you’re commenting here on? It was probably made there too. Apple have been the only company that I’ve read about actually push for change in those places, doing checks on them and working to get them to a higher standard. The media obsession with Apple means only Apple gets mentioned when something bad happens at Foxconn, even though your laptop, phone, games consoles, tablet, e-reader, smart watch, all probably made there.

    And regarding suicide levels, apparently they’re in line with the average rates in China, there’s just so many people working for Foxconn it happens a lot. Not great that ANYONE feels the need to take their own life, but nothing seems to point to Foxconn leading to any more than anywhere else in China.

    Why would they give away the energy they’re generating? They’re reducing their dependence on fossil fuels, which is a good thing. I feel like Apple could provide every man, woman and child with free electricity and you’d complain that they’re doing the energy employees out of work.

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    Mute owen m
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:58 PM

    No they want to harvest subsidies from poor people

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:30 PM

    Dumb, ill informed trolllike comment. Check your facts first before spouting such rubbish

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:36 AM

    “and will provide enough to juice to fire 60,000 homes.” Balleaux. May I repeat “Not forgetting the scam of solar power which gets frequent mention by greenies here on the Journal. Hawaii and California would seem to be ideal for solar compared to rainy Ireland and look what happened to them.
    http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/4686/Hawaiirsquos-Future-Abandoned-Solar-Farms-Clutter-California-Desert.aspx

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Feb 11th 2015, 10:54 AM

    At 9 p.m. on July 16 2014 total wind power output was a mere 0.334 gigawatts and the day’s last rays of sunlight were delivering only 0.103 gigawatts of power. That means the two sources of wind and solar combined were putting out only [(0.334 + 0.103)/65]100 = 0.7% of their rated capacity. That in turn means the remaining 99.3% had to come in large part from the conventional coal, nuclear and gas power plants.

    Germany’s installed wind/solar systems on average operate roughly at about 15% of their capacity.

    11
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    Mute owen m
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    Feb 11th 2015, 5:01 PM
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    Mute Ten Major
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    Feb 11th 2015, 8:09 PM

    As Charlie Carlisle said to you last Saturday.
    That’s the nature of wind energy. It’s budgeted for before the farm goes up (bear in mind that this tech isn’t exactly new).
    Think of it more like a company that has one emoployee and hires six contractors for the busy days.
    Check out the EirGrid dashboard to see how it’s actually quite economical, as when the wind blows we cut down on our natural gas consumption and imported electricity. If it’s blowing overnight, we even manage a few exports to the UK.
    http://www.eirgrid.com/media/All-Island_Wind_and_Fuel_Mix_Report_Summary_2013.pdf (2013 summary, as the 2014 summary has not yet been compiled)
    You’ll never get the same reliability or energy density with wind as with fossil fuels, however it isn’t intended to get that. It’s a supplemental source (and if it’s economical, then it’s probably quite productive).
    We need everything we can get if we’re going to continue to run our fridges and our computers and our 400 inch tvs and our endless street lighting and our washing machines and our tumble driers.

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    Mute owen m
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    Feb 11th 2015, 8:48 PM

    the savings are tiny relative to the cost.

    the main problem now is that there is an energy bubble because nobody bothered to check whether wind could actually replace conventional plant which is driving industry out

    http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.ie/2015/01/energy-bub.html

    1
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    Mute Ruth
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    Feb 11th 2015, 5:49 PM

    An apple a day keeps the end of the world at bay.

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    Mute Ciaran De Bhal
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:57 PM

    Hey FRANK. Numbers for ya to terrorise us with…

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    Mute Jake Race
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:37 PM

    That explains why they’re head hunting Tesla engineers.

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    Mute owen m
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    Feb 11th 2015, 3:57 PM

    Typical, spending millions to throw precious resources and fossil fuels down the drain, What a Waste, people in future will curse us for wasting these resources

    http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.ie/2015/01/wind-energy-wasteful-use-of-resources.html

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    Mute Flatpack Jack
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    Feb 11th 2015, 7:54 PM

    I wonder how much Co2 will be produced just manufacturing all those solar panels? It’ll be a long time before that solar farm balances it’s Co2 books alone!

    1
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