The following letter has been sent to Government Minister and TD for East Galway, Anne Rabbitte, on behalf of the East Galway Gas Plant Concern Group (East Galway Next Gen CLG).

06/08/2024

Without Prejudice

Dear Minister Rabbitte,

Following last Thursday night’s public clinic in Killimor Community Hall, Co. Galway (1st August, 2024) it has become abundantly clear to our representative group (East Galway Gas Plant Concern Group / East Galway Next Gen CLG) that you have failed to grasp the gravity of the situation we are facing as a community and for the reasons outlined below, we are calling on you to outline a substantive course of action that demonstrates your commitment to the best interests of the people of this community. Should such a plan not be evident by noon on Friday, 9th of August, we will be calling for your immediate resignation. 

This letter has been drafted in careful consultation with other members of our group and members of the wider community and we believe our impending call for your resignation is supported by the many hundreds of people who have attended our multiple public meetings in recent months. For full disclosure, this letter has been sent to local and national media and your colleagues in government. 

To summarise our position: 

1. The specific need for another fossil fuel burning facility in East Galway, just 8km from an existing facility has thus far not been addressed by you in any way other than vague references to “energy security”, which we consider scaremongering.
   1. 21% of energy is consumed by data centres, more than all of the homes in Ireland. Any threat to energy security belongs to the data centres of corporate interests, not the people. 
   2. The number of energy infrastructure projects at various stages of development around the country and offshore, coupled with North South Interconnector and Celtic Interconnector projects, illustrate that the supply pipeline is overshooting the runway in terms of energy requirements for the people of this state. The only interests being served here are speculative corporate interests. 
2. You have stated at public meetings and on Galway Bay FM that you have been misled by the applicant company. At no stage have you stated how you propose to address being misled by an applicant for a €1bn national energy infrastructure project. As a Government Minister, this apparent apathy and indifference to such contemptuous, underhanded behaviour by a speculative planning applicant is nothing short of outrageous. 
3. Your apparent lack of awareness of the involvement of Vitol Energy in these projects is of grave concern. The fact that a multinational oil company with a scandalous track record of corruption can wear a green cloak while maintaining controlling interests in new fossil fuel infrastructure development in Ireland, amounts to an apparent corporate greenwashing scandal on your government’s watch. 
4. The fact that your party and government colleagues seem prepared to openly advocate for such joint venture partnerships which have a likely consequence of negatively impacting the health of residents of East Galway is a shame on your tenure and a legacy that the people of these lands will not easily forget. 
5. You gave a commitment on Galway Bay FM on Thursday, 27th June that the applicant, Lumcloon Energy, would meet with the public in Portumna on 8th of July and a separate meeting would be held with public representatives of Loughrea Municipal area and your Oireachtas colleagues. None of this has transpired. Understandably, this may be beyond your control but we have also asked (via email on July 3rd) for minutes and correspondence of all of your prior engagements with Lumcloon Energy and their representatives or agents, including those of the IESA of which Lumcloon is a founding member. You have yet to respond to this request.
6. In the same email communication on July 3rd, we asked you for information on the source of donations made by Lumcloon Energy to various sports and community groups in Portumna and Killimor. Lumcloon Energy, also ran free bars in Killimor and Portumna on the night of June 12th, when they presented cheques to local interest groups. We have asked you, as our public representative and member of the government, to clarify whether these donations came from Lumcloon or the EU Just Transition Fund or any other EU or national fund derived from our taxes. To-date, we have not received a satisfactory response to this query.
7. Last Thursday night in Killimor, you said your intended action was to make a submission through the planning process. In the face of this greenwashing scandal which has the potential to impact our environs for generations to come, that proposed course of action is wholly insufficient. You also promised meetings with Barry Cowen MEP and Minister Eamon Ryan at the meeting in Killimor on Thursday night last but again, no action has been taken.

We believe your apparent inaction in addressing our concerns in the last 6-7 weeks has undermined your position as our elected public representative. We are hopeful that you will provide a substantive path forward that clearly demonstrates your accountability to the people of East Galway and a steadfast, unrelenting commitment to put the interests of your constituents above what amounts to nothing more than speculative corporate greed.

In the absence of a meaningful course of action, we feel we will have no choice but to call on you to resign as a TD for East Galway with immediate effect and vacate your seat in Dail Eireann for someone who is willing to be a voice for this community.

Yours sincerely, 

Paul Madden

Spokesperson

East Galway Gas Plant Concern Group