Farmers who’ve had an earful of demands for greenhouse gas cuts might want to turn away now. Ireland’s single biggest emitter, Moneypoint power station, pumped out 3.2m tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2021 – a 68% increase in the power plant’s 2018 level. It seems the ESB’s commitment remains firmly geared towards providing power rather than worrying about CO2 output. This week, there is a massive 190,000t deadweight tonnage ship unloading at Moneypoint, which has travelled all the way from the east of Australia with a load of coal.

When contacted, the ESB said it couldn’t reveal the amount of coal on the ship for “commercial reasons” (don’t want all those other coal-fired stations here knowing what they’re doing, I suppose) and pointed The Dealer towards their plans to stop burning coal in 2025. Planning to stop burning coal in 2025 while importing mammoth loads from the furthest possible point on the planet certainly brings St Augustine’s plea to mind.