asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he will request the E.S.B. to consider the advisability of erecting a turf-fired power station in the Castlerea area, County Roscommon.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Roscommon and Turf-fired Power Station.
As I informed the Deputy in reply to a question on March 4th, 1953, the information available to me indicates that the quantity of turf surplus to local needs which could be produced in the Castlerea area would not be sufficient to provide for the operation of an electricity generating station on a reasonably economic basis. The erection of a station at Castlerea is not in the present programme of the E.S.B.
Is the Minister aware that turf has been produced on first-class bogs in the Castlerea area for a number of years past, but due to the decision of Bord Na Móna to cut down on turf production no further turf will be cut by Bord Na Móna in the Castlerea area and, as a result, the large sums of money spent on the capital development of these bogs, drainage and so forth will now be wasted unless these bogs are worked? Is the Minister further aware that the acreage and depth of these bogs would make most people believe at any rate that there is a sufficient quantity of turf available in that locality to power a generating station for the production of electricity? Could the matter be considered at a later stage by the E.S.B. by means of another five-year plan or some similar scheme?
The Deputy is making a speech.
I understand that the maximum quantity of turf produced on these bogs in the Castlerea area by Bord Na Móna was round 5,000 tons or 6,000 tons per year with semi-automatic machines. Clearly, that quantity would be completely inadequate for the requirements of a power station. I assume that when the present programme of the E.S.B. is nearing completion another programme will have to be prepared. At that stage, the technical problems of working smaller bogs may have eased by developments in the meanwhile.
There are 50,000 tons of turf per year available in the Castlerea area.