THERE IS LIKELY to be an ‘increased energy trade’ with Britain and Europe after 2020, the Tánaiste has said.

He was speaking in the wake of news that a plan to build thousands of turbines in the Midlands, with the energy being exported to the United Kingdom, has been put on hold.

“It has always been dependent on wind energy being take in or being able to be exported to Britain”, Eamon Gilmore told reporters as he arrived a meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg.

“If, as it turns out, there isn’t a possibility of that wind energy being exported to Britain well then there is no basis for the project”.

“There is likely to be increased trade in energy, not just with Britain, but right across Europe,” he said, noting that it was just one particular project that has failed.

The Tánaiste was also hesitant to state whether Ireland would support sending an EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSPD) force in Ukraine.

“There is the proposal that the External Action Service would send a mission to look at how it could assist in the areas of civil security and law enforcement,” he explained, but that it must report back on its finding before deploying the CSPD is considered.

He added that “it’s difficult to accept that the developments that have taken place over the weekend [in Ukraine] happened of their own accord”.

It’s official: The Government has cancelled its Midlands wind energy export plan >

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