asked the Minister for Finance if he intends to recommend that the Government turf burning station at Kildare Place be changed to natural gas; and, if so, the approximate cost of such alteration.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Government Turf Burning Station Conversion.
2.
Work will commence in the very near future on the conversion of certain Government heating installations to natural gas.
The question of converting other installations, including the heating station at Kildare Place, will be examined and various considerations, including the experience gained on the installations now being converted, will be taken into account.
It is too early to say what would be the cost of converting the Kildare Place installation.
Is the Minister aware that right at the heart of the administration of Government we have an obsolete, inefficient and totally wasteful power station burning in the order of 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes of peat per annum, giving very bad temperatures varying from almost subarctic to Sahara Desert temperatures in this House and throughout the entire Government building complex? This includes the National Gallery, from which have come complaints that some of the works of art are under threat from pollution as a direct result of this power plant within a stone's throw of where we are sitting today. Surely the Minister would not dispute the fact that it is a matter of extreme urgency that we convert this obsolete power station to natural gas without delay. It is a terrible example to the nation, given the fact that our smoke levels are 50 per cent up on last year.
Twenty installations are being converted at present to natural gas. To include the central heating station would involve a great deal. It is intended that the 20 installations now being converted will be used to monitor the success of the transfer and that the experience there will be taken into account in further installations. Some solid fuel installations are being converted to natural gas, but we have concentrated on oil burning stations because of the oil being imported. Solid fuel is generally a native fuel, as is natural gas.
For the Minister's information, the cost of such conversion would be——
You are not to give information. You are to put a question, Deputy.
The cost would be £80,000 for three stations, with no loss of employment whatsoever. Surely the Minister is aware, as everybody is, that sometimes in this House one has to open the windows to let heat out of the building, which is very wasteful. Is the Minister aware of the inefficiency here? Due to the lack of combustibility at this station ballot papers supposed to have been burnt there have, on occasions, floated happily out through the chimney and landed on Kildare Street. That is how inefficient the system is, 50 years out of date.
I am not aware of these weird happenings. However, it is appropriate that we should have some assessment of the 20 stations already in the process of conversion——
But that is a separate matter.
——before we continue on a broader basis.
On a point of order, may I, within the strictures of Standing Orders of the House, on account of the limited time available this morning on the Order of Business, seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment this evening the question——
The Deputy is in time to make that request. I shall consider it.
I have not told you what it is. It is the imminent threat of air pollution at the Moneypoint Power Station.
I shall consider the matter and be in touch with the Deputy.
Favourably?
If you could harness all the hot air that comes out of here, you would not need to convert the power plant.