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File image of wind turbines in Co Wexford Alamy Stock Photo

Ireland bottom of EU table for use of renewables last year

In Ireland, 13.1% of energy consumption came from renewable sources, compared to 66% in top of the list Sweden.

IRELAND RANKED BOTTOM among the EU 27 for its share of energy consumption coming from renewable sources last year.

In 2022, 13.1% of Ireland’s energy consumption came from renewable sources, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.

This was slightly below Malta’s rate of 13.4% and Belgium on 13.7%.

Topping the list was Sweden, on 66%, considerably higher than second-placed Finland on 47.8%.

It means Ireland is one of 17 nations below the EU average of 23%, with France, Spain, Germany, and Italy among the other EU nations to fall below the average.

While Ireland fared slightly better last year than it did in 2021, when 12.4% of energy usage came from renewable sources, its considerably lesser than in 2020 when the figure was 16.2%.

Under the first EU Renewable Energy Directive, which is a legal framework for the development of clean energy across all sectors of the EU economy, there was a target of at least 16% of gross final energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Ireland’s target for the end of this decade is 34.1%, and it is likely that this target will be increased in the coming years.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) in its 2023 Energy in Ireland report described energy trends this year and last year as “sobering”.

“While the roll-out of electric heat pumps means that we have never seen more renewable energy used in Irish homes, we still have 94% of home heating coming from fossil fuels,” said the foreword to the report.

The report noted that last year, 85.8% of Ireland’s primary energy requirement came from fossil fuels, and the total energy demand last year was 4.7% higher than in 2021.

Ireland also imported 81.6% of its total primary energy requirement last year according to the SEAI.

For comparison, the average energy import dependency of all EU member states in 2020 was 57.5%.

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    Mute ecrowley ecrowley
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    Dec 28th 2023, 4:56 PM

    For a wealthy, supposedly well-educated country, we are so poor at getting many important things right…..housing, health, energy.

    517
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    Mute Ivan Dickson
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:04 PM

    @ecrowley ecrowley: consumerism has taken over, nothing else really matters anymore

    186
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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:31 PM

    @ecrowley ecrowley: with regards to the environment we have a minister who talks absolute muck, I would hazard a guess that 90% of the population have no belief or faith in him. When that happens we are on a loser straight away

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    Mute Alan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:52 PM

    @Derek Lyster: what muck does he talk? Maybe you could provide a few significant examples?

    43
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    Mute David O Brien
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:02 PM

    @ecrowley ecrowley: That has never changed.

    10
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    Mute Fred Coloe
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:44 PM

    @Ivan Dickson: If you do some research, you will find that the “consumer” is the backbone of every developed economy!!

    21
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    Mute he didnt take the 120k because he already got it s
    Favourite he didnt take the 120k because he already got it s
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:46 PM

    @ecrowley ecrowley: its because of the “we need housing” ” but you’re not putting them there”, we need windfarms, “but no you cant put them there” we could have massive wind farms across the west coast but the locals keep objecting

    38
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    Mute James Reardon
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:14 PM

    @Alan: we were 1 of only 2 EU members not to sign up for RePowerEu which would’ve given us billions in grants towards establishing biomethane as an alternative, renewable energy source. A green td and councillor both told me biomethane establishment was part of their Climate Action Plan, but neither could/would answer why Éamon Ryan didn’t sign us up for the scheme. Pure incompetence my guess.

    68
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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:14 PM

    @Alan: pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth is muck, then he has a little power nap at work and he’s off again. He can’t hold himself in an interview, when he gets questioned he just waffles, most of the targets that he sets are missed by miles and from what I can see his only achievement in government is extra poverty on those who can least afford it. If you want to know about the muck he talks then listen back to interviews he has done.

    96
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    Mute Sean Brannigan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:52 PM

    @Alan:
    He told us more than 10 years ago to switch to diesel cars that it was better for envoirment!!!!
    I kid u not , look it up…
    He now regrets it….u couldnt make this whopper up.
    Did i also mention growing cabbage on your window !!!!!!

    65
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    Mute Paul
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:35 PM

    @Derek Lyster: yeah he does all his work when asleep

    19
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    Mute Sea Point
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:50 PM

    @he didnt take the 120k because he already got it s: yep nimbyism has always held Ireland back, or made essential projects uneconomical…

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    Mute Joe x
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    Dec 28th 2023, 9:28 PM

    @Alan: Alan, He and his party have this country ruined….you want an example: how many two lane roads in the country have had a lane converted to a cycle lane….prime example being the Condell road and New Bridge in Limerick where there were 2 lanes coming into the city and now there is crazy congestion coming into the city because the remaining lane cannot handle what 2 lanes could barely accomodate before, after conversion of the left one to a cycle rail….or how about the stopping of the Galway ring road which is another.

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    Mute Donal Ronan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 9:44 PM

    @Joe x:They got the kids out on bikes for the New Bridge during Covid for a piece on RTE . They haven’t been seen since.
    Limerick has a load of cycle lanes, but no one seems to be using them.
    They did a new stretch for people that might know near Ballyclough, it’s covered in twigs. Can’t see anyone cycling on that.
    Good for CRH though. Oh! 1 ton of concrete is 1 ton of Co2.

    25
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    Mute anthony murphy
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    Dec 28th 2023, 9:54 PM

    @Derek Lyster: summed it up perfectly. A spoofer of classic proportions.

    19
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    Mute John Moore
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:10 PM

    Grim reading. I know there might be some mitigation in the fact that we use a lot of natural gas whereas say other countries burn coal so emissions per head might not be so bad in comparison and the fact that we are an island but still. All the waffle about becoming a renewables powerhouse just seems deluded. As with everything way too slow at a snails pace waiting on the whole thing to be barely implemented so that the usual suspects can get even richer from it. Will be interesting to hear what kind of spin they try to put on things.

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    Mute Leonard Barry
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:26 PM

    @John Moore: As you mention what kind of spin will be put on this I reckon that the Brits will be blamed.

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    Mute Connor Savage
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:25 PM

    Leadership in this country, by all parties and politicians, is nothing short of shambolic …

    202
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    Mute uUleRhCu
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:34 PM

    @Connor Savage: Trying to implement anything in this country without massive objections and getting anything beyond the not in my back yard crew is impossible……not everything is our ‘leaders’ fault.

    106
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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 10:10 PM

    @uUleRhCu: The “leaders” are in charge of introducing policies and processes. Clearly, they have failed

    36
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    Mute derek doogan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:29 PM

    I bet we have 1 of the highest tax’s on “carbon”

    121
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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 10:16 PM

    @derek doogan:
    10 seconds on a Internet search would have told you that statement is completely false.
    But then, it might not suit your agenda.
    We are 7th highest. The highest are Switzerland and Sweden with carbon taxes up to 3 times ours but for instance Spain is less than half.

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    Mute Joe x
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    Dec 29th 2023, 12:15 AM

    @P.J. Nolan: However, Switzerland is not an EU member, which would move us to at least 6th by your listing. Are there any other non-EU members on it?

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    Mute Shaner Mac
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:21 PM

    This seems odd as our wind generated capacity is quite high for electricity. What renewables are other countries using?

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    Mute CTW
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:41 PM

    @Shaner Mac: The devil is in the detail here. Hydro is included which distorts in favor of the Nordic countries. Wind and solar are fastest growing. There are transfers in the report which distort. Norway generates the most hydro in Europe but sends all it’s gas to Europe so someone else can burn it. Ireland dropped 3.5% due to transfers and not reporting biofuel generation. The reporting of a graph without analysis is lazy reporting.

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    Mute brian magee
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:33 PM

    @Shaner Mac: it’s energy as poised to electricity, so includes heating , transport etc
    We’ve little district heating , heat pumps etc

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    Mute Shane O Neill
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:35 PM

    @Shaner Mac: I think there’s a difference between the % split when you look at how much we generate vs. how much we consume

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    Mute James Casey
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    Dec 28th 2023, 11:15 PM

    @CTW: not lazy but the narrative

    1
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    Mute Eddie Garvey
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:44 PM

    Despite all the sponsored media messaging about upgrading houses to more efficient version of what they are, the vast vast majority of homes are not suited to the use of heat pumps without making those houses air tight which is massively expensive and way beyond the resources of the majority of homeowners. If Mr Ryan and his govt want to save the planet and achieve the impossible, then all profit and vat and costs beyond material and labour costs have to be removed. If it’s really about saving the planet then we need to attack this in a way that is not an opportunity to make a fortune for the suppliers and installers otherwise it is just going to impoverish those who can’t do it. This has to be done as a national effort for the good if all and not as another opportunity for greed and profit to be maximised.

    116
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    Mute Peter McCormack
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:56 PM

    @Eddie Garvey: My 1940s semi in Dublin got an A2 BER rating after the retro fit with a heat pump and solar panels..
    The house stays at a steady 19C.

    32
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    Mute brian magee
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:35 PM

    @Peter McCormack: what kind of money did you have to spend and do most people have access to the money?

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    Mute John Moore
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    Dec 29th 2023, 5:16 PM

    @Eddie Garvey: If a house was built before 1978 it is not suitable for a heat pump. That will be quite a lot of houses.

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    Mute East Cork Cheeses
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    Dec 29th 2023, 10:43 PM

    @Peter McCormack: my 70s terrace house wouldnt need an expensive heat pump if i got external insulation ,and new doors+windows , my gas heating is rarely used as it is , i have a basic stove ( which i should upgrade ) and a simple mhrv..

    1
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    Mute Colm Mcmahon
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:08 PM

    So much for having a Green party in government, they can’t even get that right, all they want to do is Tax the living daylight out of us.

    93
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    Mute John Reynolds
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:04 PM

    So all the talk from government has just been found out as a load of nonsense

    100
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    Mute tara tevlin
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:05 PM

    Fook Europe

    104
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    Mute Tom Dillon
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:13 PM

    @tara tevlin: We’re fooking ourselves.

    54
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    Mute Francis O Riordan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:43 PM

    Probably another excuse to heap more tax on the population

    50
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    Mute John Moylan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:31 PM

    Who cares ? It’s cold, light a fire/whatever. If it’s not, don’t.

    56
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    Mute Eamon Guilfoyle
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:46 PM

    Some of Europe, like France using Nuclear.

    51
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    Mute Joe x
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    Dec 29th 2023, 12:51 AM

    @Eamon Guilfoyle: Is nuclear power considered renewable? I personally don’t believe so, but it does reduce the use of fossil fuels, but has its ken share of waste by-products

    3
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    Mute brian magee
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    Dec 30th 2023, 12:21 AM

    @Joe x: it’s sustainable , not renewable

    1
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    Mute Gearoid O'Ceilleachair
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:26 PM

    I see, in another article, that Seasonal Affective Disorder has become Social Affective Disorder, as though some massive joke is being played on society. 

    Forget academics; they are petty and would dump society into a misery bin and portray Irish society as lousy on account of climate change modelling. The real culprits are the media, who do not inform people who suffer from the winter blues how the planet’s motions create the seasons at a time when the darkest evenings are over. Temperatures generally fall for a while after the Solstice, so the extended period of darkness affects those who cannot reconcile the natural cycles with how society operates these days. 

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    Mute Joe x
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    Dec 29th 2023, 1:02 AM

    @Gearoid O’Ceilleachair: No Gearoid, it has not. Seasonal Affective Disorder has not become Social Anxiety Disorder. They are 2 separate conditions that happen to share a common acronym. It’s not the first time such a thing has happened, and it will not be the last. It all depends on the context.

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    Mute Carl Campbell
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    Dec 29th 2023, 1:58 AM

    @Gearoid O’Ceilleachair: they haven’t changed it. It’s two different things, one relating to seasons and dark mornings/evenings and lack of sunlight and the other is to do with social situations and peoples inability to deal with them due to the over reliance on social media to conduct all their social interactions.

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    Mute Paul
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:42 PM

    And yet we have an abundance of online ECO Warriors who will virtue signal the planet back to a healthy state with their tweets and posts!

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    Mute Edward O'T.
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:53 PM

    Develop the gas fields and oil deposits off the coast and elsewhere because we are going to need the gas and oil, renewables are great when the wind blows and the sun shines but are proven to be unreliable.

    37
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    Mute Gerry Dornan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:25 PM

    Who cares??

    29
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    Mute Fran Ken
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:42 PM

    @Gerry Dornan: if you’re happy to pay more and more each year for imported fossil fuels, then no reason to care. On the other hand….

    37
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    Mute Francis O Riordan
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:47 PM

    @Fran Ken: why don’t we kill off the national herd of cattle and import meat from thousands of miles away in say Brazil. That wouldn’t make any sense would it

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    Mute Sean O'Doherty
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:20 PM

    @Francis O Riordan: Or stop eating beef, maybe.

    13
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    Mute Paul O Connor
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    Dec 28th 2023, 5:19 PM

    Yeah. Top of the table. Do we get a medal?

    26
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    Mute Fred Coloe
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:46 PM

    Before everybody starts panicking, 17/27 countries are below the EU average. Would be more interesting to compare these figures with ones from 5/10/15 and 20 yrs ago. Moving to renewables is a huge transition. It will take many years. Sweden didn’t get to 66% a handful of years!

    22
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    Mute Seanfhear míshásta
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:26 PM

    Embarrassing.

    26
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    Mute Jimmy Kiely
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:38 PM

    The three party government are joke when it comes to recycling and reusables.

    Most local authority are still using plastic sacks in street bin, that still go to landfill.

    That’s just one issue, the second is you buy a bale of renewable heat logs costing €6.99 and included in that price is 00.83 cent vat, so much for encouraging eco friendly.

    20
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    Mute Ashling Fenton
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    Dec 28th 2023, 7:43 PM

    Irish motto: progress but no change please.

    18
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    Mute frank dowling
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:42 PM

    Let’s go Nuclear!

    23
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    Mute Kieran Menon
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    Dec 28th 2023, 9:39 PM

    Yet we’re so heavily taxed to be green… this government is a farce.

    25
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    Mute Magnificent Mongoose
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    Dec 28th 2023, 8:50 PM

    More tax will fix it.

    15
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    Mute Kevin McHugh
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:30 PM

    What a shambles!

    21
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    Mute MickCbar
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:39 PM

    Strange colour coding, shouldn’t the highest be green? Followed by orange and red. 15% and you are green. Very strange.

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    Mute John Kelly
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    Dec 28th 2023, 11:21 PM

    They’ll have to dream yet another tax to put on top of carbon tax, excess duty, vat , Nora tax, better energy tax !!!!

    9
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    Mute Denis Rathsallagh Brady
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    Dec 28th 2023, 6:53 PM

    Unacceptable breathing and unsuppressed attachment result in all known karmas.

    8
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    Mute Carl Campbell
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    Dec 29th 2023, 2:00 AM

    Ireland and the Green Party circus are happy to sign up to every initiative going but just don’t ask us actually do anything to achieve those targets, Christ no, that means actually making changes and sacrifices.

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    Mute MTB Mayo
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    Dec 29th 2023, 8:47 PM

    Oh tax me harder Eamo! Harder. More regulations please, also take away more of my civil liberties please, oooh it feels go good, harder! Harder! More carbon tax! More debt, more EVs, more regs.

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    Mute MTB Mayo
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    Dec 29th 2023, 8:48 PM

    Human flourishing depends on fossil fuels.

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