Calls for Just Transition Funding to be used to create a Green Energy Hub in Offaly
Fine Gael Councillor Noel Cribbin is calling for Offaly’s share of the EU Just Transition funding to be channelled into the creation of a Green Energy Hub in the north of the county.
He has welcomed the news of the provision of €169 million for eight counties under the EU Just Transition Fund which aims to address employment, economic, social, and environmental impacts that come with the move away from peat production and electricity generation from peat.
Cllr Cribbin is calling on his colleagues in Fine Gael, and all elected representatives in the region, to work together to support this initiative which he has already raised with Fine Gael Leader and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and with Richard Bruton, TD, resulting in the inclusion of the initiative in the current Programme for Government.
Speaking about the initiative, Cllr Cribbin said: ‘I am delighted to see the awarding of €169 million under the EU Just Transition Programme and it is now time for the plans I have previously outlined for turning North Offaly into a Green Energy Hub, to come to fruition. We already have much of the required infrastructure already in place and in planning stage, with two BNM Windfarms in Mount Lucas and Cloncrane along with at least four more Windfarms to come. There’s Edenderry Power, solar farms, and the Gas Powered Power Station to be built at Derrygreenagh along with a 3000 acre BNM Industrial site alongside it.
The initiative has the potential, when completed, with Windfarms, solar farms, power stations etc. to generate enough Green Energy to run 15% of the country’s needs. "We have a 3,000-acre industrial site, and with a Green Energy Hub on the motorway, in the centre of the country, only 50 minutes to Dublin, there is nowhere else in the country that has the capacity to provide this potential.
"It’s time to ensure North Offaly gets its fair share of this money to build not just an Industrial Park but one built to the highest standards fuelled by Megawatts of green Energy that will bring in top class employment from multinational companies that will help to replace the thousands of jobs lost to both ESB and BNM in the last few years in Offaly. It is time for all public representatives across all parties to work together to ensure this happens," stated Cllr Cribbin.
The EU Just Transition Funding will be targeted at the region over the coming decade to generate new green jobs, stimulate enterprise, increase sustainable tourism, restore damaged peatlands and alleviate the economic impacts of the transition to climate neutrality.
The Just Transition programme will focus on:
· Generating employment for former peat communities by investing in the diversification of the local economy. The fund will support productive investments in enterprise, SMEs, and community actions;
· Supporting the restoration and rehabilitation of degraded peatlands and the regeneration and repurposing of industrial heritage assets;
· Providing former peat communities with smart and sustainable mobility options to enable them to benefit directly from the green transition.