Paul Murphy: Calls for Renewable Power and ESB Rebuild
Paul Murphy warned that extreme weather will increase and urged stronger climate adaptation focused on electricity resilience. He opposed fossil-fuel responses and demanded reliable, low-cost renewable electricity, free home retrofitting, solar panels and batteries with no upfront costs, compensation for outages, and strengthened ESB networks as a publicly run utility.
Murphy said more storms, flooding and the potential impact of an AMOC collapse make electricity resilience vital. He argued that adaptation must include planning for reliable power and that affected workers and communities should be listened to when preparing for future disasters.
Murphy insisted the State has a responsibility to provide reliable electricity and that households must be compensated for loss of power and the resulting inconvenience and suffering. He gave the example of a staff member in South Dublin who was without electricity for three days and received a 240 euro cheque from the ESB, and warned against different compensation standards for urban and rural areas.
Murphy warned against responding to extreme weather by turning to more fossil fuels, which he said are responsible for the crises. He criticised the ESB for threatening to increase prices to cover clean-up costs and said raising bills for everyone is the wrong direction.
Murphy called for building up ESB network capacity as a publicly owned, publicly run public utility. He recalled standing on picket lines where workers warned about outsourcing and loss of capacity and urged democratic planning with workers and communities for disaster prevention and response.
Climate risks and electricity resilience
Murphy said more storms, flooding and the potential impact of an AMOC collapse make electricity resilience vital. He argued that adaptation must include planning for reliable power and that affected workers and communities should be listened to when preparing for future disasters.
State responsibility and compensation
Murphy insisted the State has a responsibility to provide reliable electricity and that households must be compensated for loss of power and the resulting inconvenience and suffering. He gave the example of a staff member in South Dublin who was without electricity for three days and received a 240 euro cheque from the ESB, and warned against different compensation standards for urban and rural areas.
Against fossil-fuel responses and price hikes
Murphy warned against responding to extreme weather by turning to more fossil fuels, which he said are responsible for the crises. He criticised the ESB for threatening to increase prices to cover clean-up costs and said raising bills for everyone is the wrong direction.
Public ownership and network capacity
Murphy called for building up ESB network capacity as a publicly owned, publicly run public utility. He recalled standing on picket lines where workers warned about outsourcing and loss of capacity and urged democratic planning with workers and communities for disaster prevention and response.
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Transcript
It is a painful truth that we are going to be faced with more and more extreme weather events, more storms, more flooding, possibly even more serious snow if you have the collapse of the AMOC including the Gulf Stream. We should resist those who would try to respond to those extreme weather events by driving us further into the arms of the fossil fuels which are responsible for these crises. But we do need to act in terms of climate adaptation and a crucial part of that is electricity resilience. We need to learn from, listen to the affected workers and communities who know what their needs are to begin to plan democratically for future disaster prevention and response. A bottom line point is that the State has a responsibility to provide reliable electricity for people. When it isn't reliable, every household must be compensated not only for the loss of power but for the inconvenience and suffering. A worker in my office who lives in South Dublin had no electricity for three days last year. She received a cheque of 240 euros in compensation from the ESB. There cannot be one law for people in Dublin and another for rural areas when it comes to compensation. The ESB are now threatening to increase prices for everyone to pay for the cost of the clean-up, the exact opposite of the direction we should be going. Instead we need low cost, renewable electricity, free retrofitting, solar panels and batteries with no upfront costs, giving people a secure renewable power source whenever the grid fails. We also need to act to build a capacity of ESB networks. I stood on picket lines four years ago with workers who warned me about the outsourcing that was going on, about the loss of capacity. Instead we need to build up ESB networks as a publicly owned, publicly run, crucial public utility.