Carnsore Point
Carnsore Point (Carn tSóir or Ceann an Chairn in Irish) is a headland in the very South East corner of County Wexford, Ireland. This headland is Ireland's southern limit point of the Irish Sea.[1]
It is famous for being the proposed location of the Nuclear Energy Board power plant which was to be built in the 1970s. The plan would have produced electricity for the Electricity Supply Board.
Originating in 1968, the Irish Government gave renewed effort to the plans after the 1973 energy crisis. The plan envisaged one, and eventually four, nuclear power stations, but was (discreetly) dropped in the late 1970s after opposition by environmental groups, including the Wexford group the Nuclear Safety Association and others. [2] The campaign against the proposed plant also gained some international support, including that of Petra Kelly,who gave a speech at Carnsore. [3] One activist against the plant who later became notable was Adi Roche.[4]
The anti-nuclear groups organised a series of rallies and concerts at Carnsore Point from 1978 (18–20 August) to August 1981. Titled "Get To The Point" and "Back To The Point" respectively,and featuring Christy Moore as lead act, the concerts were a massive success and served to bring to public notice the whole question of nuclear power in Ireland.[5] The British and Irish Communist Organisation, who believed nuclear power was necessary to achieve socialism in Ireland, picketed the first concert.[6]
Today Carnsore Point is home to a number of wind generating stations, run by a subsidiary of the Electricity Supply Board. It opened in 2003 and consists of 14 Vestas 850 kW turbines for a capacity of just under 12 MW.
[edit] Notes
- ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Irish Sea. eds P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
- ^ The Environmental Movement in Ireland by Liam Leonard, John Barry .Springer, 2008. (pg.137)
- ^ Women on War: an international anthology of Women's Writings from Antiquity to the Present edited by Daniela Gioseffi.Feminist Press, 2003 (pg.340)
- ^ Going Nuclear: Ireland, Britain, and the campaign to close Sellafield by Veronica McDermott.Irish Academic Press, 2008 (pg.263)
- ^ Leonard & Barry,pg.211.
- ^ Comment magazine, 8th September 1978, pgs 1-3.
[edit] External links
- Nuclear Energy (An Bord Fuinnimh Núicléigh) Act, 1971
- Carnsore: Why Ireland never got nuclear power
- Minister Opens Carnsore Windfarm
- Making the Point: remembering the first festival weekend
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