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Explainer: Here's how the government's ambitious retrofitting grant scheme is meant to work

More money will be available to foot some of the cost for people to install heat pumps, insulation and solar panels.

LAST UPDATE | 9 Feb 2022

THE GOVERNMENT YESTERDAY announced a new scheme aimed to make it easier and cheaper for homes to become more energy-efficient. 

The retrofitting measures covered in the plan can help make bills more affordable in the long run, but ordinarily they can be very expensive in terms of up-front costs.

Let’s take a closer look at the new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme. 

Reducing emissions and cost 

The new scheme is basically aimed to make it simpler and more affordable for people to retrofit their homes. The scheme will be open to applications next month. 

Retrofitting homes means making energy-efficient changes to existing buildings through measures like installing heat pumps, insulation and solar panels. 

Retrofitting is one of the main ways the government intends to reduce emissions from the residential sector in the coming decades. 

Under the government’s Climate Action Plan, the country must reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. 

500,000 homes will be retrofitted and 400,000 heat pumps will be installed into Irish homes by 2030 under government plans. 

Retrofitting has two main benefits – it minimises the emission output from homes and saves households money on their heating and electricity bills.

But this all comes at a cost and the new government scheme is aimed at decreasing the upfront expense for households.  

Under the plans people will be able to avail of grants to cover 46-51% of the cost of a deep retrofit. 

Current grants available cover around 30-35% of costs. Around 80% of the cost of attic and cavity wall insultation will also be covered under the grant. 

Grants of up to €25,000 will be offered for private homes to cover half the costs of a deep retrofit. For example, the grant for heat pumps has increased from €3,500 to €6,500 and the rate for external wall insulation has increased from €6,000 to €8,000 for a detached house.

Each grant is worth a different amount for different types of homes and depending on the retrofit. 

A residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme will be introduced in the third quarter of this year to help households cover additional retrofitting costs.

These low-cost loans are being worked on between departments and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). It’s understood to be the first loan-guarantee scheme in place in the residential sector. 

Affordability

Some experts have said the plan does not go far enough for lower income households.

Michelle Murphy Research and Policy Analyst at Social Justice Ireland, told The Journal that many people will not have tens of thousands to spend on a deep retrofit. 

“The problem then is that it almost becomes an upper redistribution of resources,” Murphy said.

The funding for retrofitting comes from all contributions to the public purse. If the only people who can take advantage of the grant at that level are people on higher incomes but everyone is subsidising it – particularly people in low incomes – it’s basically functioning as an upward wealth transfer.

“People on lower incomes aren’t getting the advantage but are still paying increased carbon taxes as they do up and their homes are still losing heat.”

In terms of minor works such as insulating attics, Murphy said the lesser savings from these measures compared to a deep retrofit are not comparable. 

Murphy said Social Justice Ireland would like to see a State-led retrofitting scheme, with loans provided by the government. 

When questioned at a press conference yesterday evening about concerns that the new scheme won’t be accessible for lower income households, Eamon Ryan said: “Achieving this goal of every single Irish home to be fit to live in, I think is the best social project of our time, the most important social project of our time.”

For renters, Labour housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan said a no-eviction order should be put in place for any home in receipt of the retrofitting grant. 

“Anyone in receipt of a retrofit loan cannot be allowed to use this work as a grounds for eviction or to raise rents,” the senator said in a statement. 

Jobs 

Politicians have been keen to highlight that the scheme will benefit the construction industry. 

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said this scheme will be good for creating jobs and for improving public health.  

He also said it is sending a message of “certainty” to construction that there will be a constant stream of retrofitting work in the years to come. 

Varadkar said people trained in the construction sector can learn how to carry out retrofitting work in a matter of weeks. 

Environment and Climate Minister Eamon Ryan said small Irish businesses will be “competing with each other” to get this business. 

Officials believe the scheme will have a positive impact in rural areas and for smaller scale contractors.

Cost certainty for households 

To apply for these grants, householders will contact a ‘one stop shop’ company through a list that will be available on the SEAI website in the coming weeks. 

This company will complete the job from start to finish, again intended to simplify the process for homeowners. These ‘one stop shop’ companies will be taking on applications through the grant scheme in the coming weeks. 

Electric Ireland Superhomes is one of around a dozen of these organisations in the country focusing specifically on deep retrofits. 

Managing director Stephen O’Connor told The Journal that there is an acceptance that deep retrofitting is “the real way now to tackle the poor energy performance of domestic buildings”.

He said around 1.5 million homes need “serious work” and any home built before 2006 needs retrofitting.

“There’s also a growing acceptance that the best way to do it is not those small individual single measures, but to do it right once and do the whole house,” he said. 

Previously, under the SEAI scheme, homeowners had to pay the full cost up front and then claim back the grant portion.

Under this scheme the consumer will only pay their portion and the provider will handle the grant application and will claim the money from the scheme, which O’Connor said will make for a smoother process for householders.

Applications are made through the SEAI. The organisation said this morning that it is experiencing high call volumes. 

Contains reporting by Michelle Hennessy.

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42 Comments
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    Mute Cillian_Durkin
    Favourite Cillian_Durkin
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:17 PM

    Best description I have heard of this process so far was Vincent Brown describing the approach as “showing the state’s contempt for the ordinary person.”

    One thing that FG/FF could have as common ground for a coalition in 2016 is their continuing contempt for the Irish people.

    Whether you support the pylons or not is not what my point is about.

    163
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:43 PM

    Common Purpose have always held the common people in contempt.

    39
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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:55 PM

    Two of the Pylon routes in question run through Special Areas of Conservation: the Comeragh Mountains and Slievenamon. Much work has been undertaken by Waterford CoCo in the development of tourism in the area, such as the recently launched hiking routes in the Comeraghs & the Deise Greenway cycle path. South Tipp CoCo is also seeking to promote tourism in the Suir Valley, along the former Towpath on the River Suir between Carrick-on-Suir and Kilsheelan. Surely such initiatives would suffer were pylons to be constructed in either or both of the aforementioned areas?

    Why did EirGrid not consider an underwater power route from (a) Knockraha to Great Island via the Cork/Waterford coast or (b) from Knockraha to Dublin as part of its study area? Given that the company wishes to construct a 600-kilometre underwater inter-connector from Great Island to France, it appears incongruous that the same consideration would not be given by an Irish company for one of its proposed Irish projects?

    It has been stated on more than one occasion by both EirGrid and Minister Rabbitte that this power line is necessary for economic development. How then did the country prosper during the late 90s and into the mid-2000s when this route was not in place and full employment was achieved?

    Do the right thing & put these pylons off-shore or underground.

    101
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    Mute Cillian_Durkin
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:58 PM

    Things like this also damage out image as a pristine environment to produce food in, damages our tourism.

    Easier to add the greasy penny to the till instead of looking at the bigger picture.

    Eirgrid suits have demanded it and the Govt. here will take “hard decisions” and let the bigger picture go hang.

    We have a chance to avoid the mistakes that other countries now wish they could avoided and plan to do so in future.

    57
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:38 PM

    There is no case made for these pylons as they will be used to export power to places who have decided not to destroy their own countryside with wind turbines and pylons. Nor has a case been made that they will create employment here after the few construction jobs run out. If new power lines were needed then the cost of burying them is an extra 3% [ estimated and disputed, so what] on our bills which pales into insignificance with the subsides and carbon taxes that we pay out already. The sheer size of these pylons and their associated wind turbines is beyond the comprehension of the lay person, for Dublin dwellers think of Liberty Hall and then try to imagine something 3 times it’s height, then imagine what hundreds of them would look like in the Phoenix Park or outside your front door.
    They will not be coming anywhere near me.

    42
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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:56 PM

    I hope to look back with pride in future years that we are the people who put a stop to Eirgrid’s destruction of our environment & heritage. It might be too late for Georgian Dublin & Woodquay but it’s not too late to stop these unnecessary pylons from permanently destroying our countryside. Make no mistake about it, this infrastructure isn’t being built for the benefit of the Irish people but for the benefit of a few well connected business people who hope to do well out of selling wind power into the UK backed by subsidies & support from their friends in the Irish Govt.
    The golden circle is alive & well. These Govt officials will be appointed to the boards of the organisations they facilitate to bully the Irish people as soon as their political careers end. It’s sickening.

    You can be sure that the brief that Eirgrid’s engineers got was to find the cheapest way to erect this infrastructure & this is what they did. Well maybe it’s time they went back to the drawing board & looked for the best way to build it & I have have no doubt that they will find that going underground & off-shore is the best way. Saving money in the short run at the cost of destroying rural communities is not good business & will be resisted at every step by people who care about our country & see Ireland as not just an economy but a society.

    57
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    Mute Pauline Harney Keogh
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:21 PM

    Put them underground and put the proposed wind farms off shore.

    57
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    Mute Joe Valentine
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:29 PM

    If you’re willing to pay for them then sure, why not? I ain’t! But sure it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference how loudly the bungalow warriors shout. These pylons are going up, so are the wind turbines including the one in Offaly.

    19
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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:30 PM

    Pauline, the real problem with both those ideas is that it will at least double, if not treble the cost. Take offshore wind, for example. The turbines have to be constructed of much stronger, more expensive materials and construction and maintainance is much more difficult and expensive.
    As regards pylons, under grounding has its own problems. It is more expensive to do and fault tracing is much more time consuming and expensive. This is the reason why pylons are the norm wprldwide even in areas of outstanding beauty.

    16
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:41 PM

    The cost of burying the lines will add 3% to our bills according to government figures, but they are not needed in the first place.

    36
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    Mute Joe Valentine
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:49 PM

    3% extra for the cables is nonsense. I don’t give a feck who said it. That is just a pure out and out lie.

    30
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    Mute Pauline Harney Keogh
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:14 PM

    Why should the Irish people allow our beautiful country to be destroyed by wind farms and pylon corridors to support the UK’s need for more energy?

    40
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    Mute Kevin Landers
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:15 PM

    That figure is absolute nonsense. Educate yourself and dont believe everything you read!!!

    10
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:41 PM

    If it cost 10% more to bury cables it is still less than we shell out for all the green scams. Look at your car tax, then look at your lecky bill now look at your car tax again and ask yourself WTF.

    14
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    Mute Graham Young
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    Jan 10th 2014, 4:40 PM

    My question is why exactly should the Irish people pay 3% when we’re not actually the consumer? Put them underground and pass on the cost who’s using the power

    1
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:20 PM

    “Recently, (the cities of) Kolding and Sønderborg decided to not erect further wind turbines (in their 500 km2+ jurisdictions) until the uncertainty about their impact on neighbours is settled”, announced Danish television TVSyd (1).

    Kolding is Denmark’s 7th largest city with 57,000 inhabitants. Its jurisdiction extends 605 km2 and includes a total of 89,000 inhabitants (76,000 for Sønderborg).

    Adds Dr Mauri Johansson, EPAW’s spokesman for Scandinavia: “During the last 12 months, several smaller municipalities had done the same, in spite of strong pressure from government. They are not satisfied with the noise regulations, and demand that independent studies (i.e. objective ones) be done concerning the effects of wind turbines on health.

    46
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    Mute Paul Somers
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:45 PM

    Here is a actual report http://www.bioinitiative.org/ written by scientists, clearly showing the EMF effects of overhead wires.

    In addition It’s a long read but it’s definitely in your interest to read this. It relates in particular, to those of you who are living in town’s or cities where you’re under the assumption that all this hot air about Windfarms won’t affect you as you won’t see them..

    So you’ve no need to get involved in all this crap..Right?.. You’ve enough on your plate to deal with without us lot adding to it, besides, it can’t affect me at all, you may say..Can it?..

    Yes..
    It can and does, as yet again, your little sneaky PSO levy on the back of your ESB bill has gone up.
    Costing you more to live in your home.

    Electric Ireland has courageously stepped forward and like a true martyr they’ve absorbed a certain amount of the hit on your behalf, (Google it. Price rise 2014)….stating that costs to produce your electricity has risen.
    But neglect to tell you why, how and who’s associated with these rising costs.

    Well, read this, and you’ll have a better understanding, as it sums it all up for you, with hard facts and definitive figures..

    As yet again, we rely on facts from the pissed off British and Scottish public through their media, as they’ve had windfarms for longer than us here in Ireland, we’re learning from their well proclaimed mistakes.

    Make no mistake about it people, Windfarms ARE affecting us all financially..now. And it seems that it can only get worse.. or am I wrong in my assumption?.. that bills just seem to go one way in this Country..
    UP.. http://www.jmt.org/stuart-young-report.asp

    49
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
    Favourite Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:56 PM

    Offshore wind €156 MWh
    Onshore wind €95 MWh
    Conventional power €30 MWh
    Approximate figure, European Wholesale market.

    17
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    Mute patrick
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:33 PM

    They should put the wind turbines underground also.

    43
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    Mute Jarlath Murphy
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:34 PM

    I always check out the pylons when on holiday….just after the Cathedrals

    41
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:42 PM

    Who owns the wind farms for which this grid is being built?

    29
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:40 PM

    As wind power fails to deliver in cold weather when needed most it has to be backed up with conventional power[ that is power sources that actually deliver] There is no mention of back up power being built to support this latest stage of the scam, and we must wonder why.

    23
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    Mute Joe Valentine
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:48 PM

    When is the last time the wind has not been blowing on the west coast in winter? You keep on going about how turbines don’t work in Scandinavia but you forget we have the Atlantic and the trade winds.

    15
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:59 PM

    Wind turbine gearbox failure is now becoming widespread after 5-7 years. The only thing that wind power delivers is massive subsidy to those involved in the scam.

    20
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:01 PM

    One Thorium reactor would provide all our power needs and is much more advanced than present nuclear.

    17
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    Mute Cillian_Durkin
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:45 PM

    It would but they aren’t ready for use yet.

    12
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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:07 PM

    Tourism was always one of the sillier objections.

    Anyone ever go on holiday to an area that has electricity?
    - if Yes, then pylons were not an issue.

    Sillyness.

    14
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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:17 PM

    Quite right. Who can deny the pleasure of driving under and past networks of pylons. And there is nothing better in this world than sitting out on a summer’s day under a buzzing pylon enjoying a picnic (though, funnily enough people appear not to have come round to appreciating this quite yet)

    27
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    Mute Aunty Simmonite
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:21 PM

    Pylons are an essential part of our infrastructure but the new lot proposed are being financed by the public for the benefit of those involved in the wind power scam just as the inter connector to the UK was. It is no coincidence that Sir Reginald Sheffield who gets a handout of £1000 a day for his turbines is the father-in-law of the British PM. We need to know who is getting the money in Ireland

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    Mute Mitch Connor
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:33 PM

    Moronic response Andrew.

    Par for your course so.

    6
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    Mute Cillian_Durkin
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:47 PM

    For a lot of Germans and others who come here because of our maintained natural beauty then things like this are very important.

    Pylons are now viewed as something best suited to the 1980′s and others are moving away from them.

    21
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    Mute Norman Hunter
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:56 PM

    Mitch, clearly the art of sarcasm is lost on you.

    15
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    Mute Hank Schrader
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:21 PM

    Pylons are going to happen whether we like it or not. That or we sit and moan in 20 years as to why they didn’t plan for this 20 years ago..

    14
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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:26 PM

    I suppose the same argument could have been used for previously proposals for nuclear power in Ireland,

    But look, it never happened and given the way larger countrys are going by starting to get rid of nuclear power (Germany, Japan etc) it will likely never happen in Ireland

    35
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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:59 PM

    Eirgrid & their political puppets love to portray those opposed to their plans as NIMBY’s but that is far from the truth. I don’t live near one of these proposed routes but I care deeply about Ireland & it’s environment & as far as I am concerned the whole country is my back yard. Every pylon Eirgrid try to erect will be opposed & not just by locals of that area but by people from all over Ireland, whether Eirgrid’s first attempt to steamroll the people of Ireland is in Louth, Mayo or Wexford I’ll be driving up from Waterford to lend my support & so will thousands of others & Eirgrid will see their costs escalate fast. So Eirgrid do the right thing & stop your bullying of rural Ireland & put these lines underground or off-shore.

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    Mute Harry Webb
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    Jan 9th 2014, 10:12 PM

    Hank isn’t Ireland worth fighting for in these matters? Why allow massive companies destroy our environment? This is imperialism at its worst!

    5
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    Mute phunkyboy
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    Jan 9th 2014, 10:18 PM

    That’s true the fallout is going to be massive they won’t go ahead with it.

    1
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    Mute Paul Lanigan
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    Jan 9th 2014, 7:33 PM

    80% of tourists who come to Ireland never leave the capital. 80% of the 10% who do, go to Kerry, & Galway. So their impact on tourism will be negligible.

    Besides can shit holes like Offaly get any uglier?

    13
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    Mute Harry Webb
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    Jan 9th 2014, 10:18 PM

    What rubbish Paul! Every time is go home, with friends or family we hire a car, after a period in Dublin to the Western counties!

    5
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    Mute Dee4
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    Jan 9th 2014, 6:53 PM

    cant imagine many tourists make decisions based on the amount of pylons in a country on the other hand they might have something to say about the bungalow and mcmansion puke the spoils the countryside.

    11
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    Mute Robert Barker
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    Jan 9th 2014, 5:53 PM

    Conrad hotel Dublin workers not paid any extra for working Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is this the norm now in Ireland ?? Just another day ….

    9
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    Mute phunkyboy
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    Jan 9th 2014, 10:16 PM

    This just isn’t right , this is our country not those arseh@les in the dail or big business to decide on its future. Don’t let it happen for the sake of your kids. I’ve seen wind farms destroy the very landscape that I once loved as a child and now it’s scarred by these monstrosities that 20 years from now probably will be obsolete and gone but their ugliness will remain forever. Short term gain long term pain.

    8
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    Mute Maurice Dodd
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    Jan 9th 2014, 11:40 PM

    So these huge pylons are being erected in our pristine country side to supply power to england? I wonder would they string them along the lake district??not a chance..

    7
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