Real partnership is stopping anyone doing anything

NEWTON'S OPTIC:AS JUNIOR Minister for Integrated Development and Sustainable Communities, with special responsibility for Innovative Enterprise and Lifelong Science, I naturally welcome the Spirit of Ireland proposals for energy independence.

However, I also have a few minor concerns. Pumping water uphill to reservoirs on the west coast using offshore wind farms, then releasing it down through hydro-electric turbines on demand, is all very well in theory. But what about the east coast? My own constituency of Upper Wicklow would be ideally suited to such an investment.

Indeed, a quick look at the topographical map of Ireland reveals that nearly all our mountains are around the coast, as are all the shores which these wind farms will be off. This clearly discriminates against the midlands. Might it be possible to de-peripheralise the system by piping high-pressure water from the mountains to hydro-electric turbines in, say, Athlone?

A few of my constituents have voiced fears over high-pressure water pipes running beneath their homes.

According to Upper Wicklow Against Natural Kinetic Energy Release Schemes (UWANKERS), these pipes create powerful hydro-magnetic fields which can cause serious brain damage in nearby voters.

Some of the younger campaigners warn that if water is not piped out to hydro-electric turbines on the offshore windmills, they may have no choice but to join the Real IRA.

In any situation this complex and controversial, especially once anti-pressure pressure groups become involved, a responsible government needs enough space to stand back and see how things shake out. I trust that Spirit of Ireland is mature enough to appreciate our position.

Of more immediate concern is the location of the new high-altitude reservoirs. Building dams in the mountains will flood a great deal of land that is not suitable for either agriculture or housing. What is the point of large-scale construction if it does not involve farmers or developers? How can we justify such a waste of public spending in the midst of a terrible election, and recession? Many of the proposed new reservoirs will not even be on Metro North. I think I speak for everyone in Fianna Fáil when I say that I just don’t understand this at all.

Farmers and developers are not the only people who could lose out. Staff, unions and managers at ESB and Eirgrid have not been consulted. It is incredibly arrogant of Spirit of Ireland to float an idea without running it past all the relevant stakeholders.

Social partnership means nothing if it does not mean that anyone can stop everyone from doing absolutely anything.

There are many more vital questions to answer before considering such a huge transformation of our national infrastructure. For example, what happens if cryptosporidium gets into the power supply? Will people need to boil their kettles?

I am also personally uncomfortable with some of the language used in the project, such as “upper and lower” reservoirs and water “finding its own level”.

We may need to set up a public body to rein in the worst aspects of this freewheeling attitude, and to employ my wife. Obviously, it will be up to the relevant stakeholders to decide where this body should be based. But if it isn’t in Wicklow, how do you expect me to give a dam?