End Of An Era As Shannonbridge Power Station Closes For Good

Friday, 11 December 2020 07:50

The West Offaly power plant will be taken off the grid this afternoon.

Today marks the end of an era in the midlands, as the West Offaly Power Station closes for good.

Over 300 people had been employed at the site, but having been refused permission to continue burning peat past December 2020, the Shannonbridge plant has been forced to wind down.

15 years after it was built along the River Shannon, the West Offaly power plant is being taken off the grid.

News of the wind down came as a shock back in July 2019, with closure not scheduled until 2030.

The workers suffered another blow when the ESB recently brought the closure date forward from December 31st to today.

Last month, the government approved a 108 million euro fund for Bord na Móna bog rehabilitation projects in the midlands.

It's expected the cash injection will see 350 workers re-deployed - although there's no clarity on the terms and conditions of those jobs.

David Kearns, who took redundancy last year, says engagement with staff on the ground has been minimal:

The station will be disconnected from the national grid this afternoon.

Its sister plant in Lanesboro, Co Longford will also be shut next Friday, 18th.

The last trains of peat arrived from the Bord na Móna works in east Galway this week.

Siptu organiser Willie Noone says many workers there don't even know if they'll have jobs in the New Year:

Mr. Noone says the grants aiming to replace the turf jobs just aren't giving people the same economic security:

Brendan Coughlan spent his whole career working for Bord na Móna's turf works in the Bog of Allen.

He says it was the economic anchor for generations of local people:

He says the reality is many of the workers won't be able to find new jobs:

Questions also remain around the future of the station itself - with its planning licence stating it must be demolished within two years of closure and the ESB claiming no alternative uses can found.

So as local communities look back over 50 years of peat harvesting in West Offaly, they're still left wondering what the future holds...

Today sees cessation of peat powered electricity generation. ESB compounding this by insisting on decommissioning plant. Reiterating my call on it to be transferred to local authority, retained and open tender/competition for future usage benefiting community,region & economy pic.twitter.com/2oMQ5c6yEp
— Barry Cowen (@CowenBarry) December 11, 2020