Offaly Councillors reject calls to stop importation of Brazilian woodchips to Edenderry Power

Offaly County Councillors have rejected any calls for the cessation of the importation of woodchips from Brazil for Edenderry Power Plant.  

There was outrage across the country at the beginning of the month when reports emerged of woodchips being shipped over 7,000 kilometres from Brazil for use at Edenderry Power Station. T

here were reports in the media about a Japanese registered ship arriving in Foynes Port, Limerick, with a load of woodchips after a two week voyage from Brazil.

This was then transported by a fleet of trucks to the Bord na Móna station in Edenderry. 

Offaly IFA was amongst those to condemn the news. Offaly IFA Chairman Pat Walsh said it was “ridiculous to see peat production being stopped and rural communities all across the midlands being devastated while at the same time woodchips are being transported halfway across the world to keep the power plant in Edenderry running. What sort of green policy is that?” 

During the May monthly meeting of Offaly County Council the subject was discussed at length. Cllr Ken Smollen put forward a motion which stated that the Council was calling on the Government to put “an immediate cessation to the importation of woodchips into Ireland for use in the Edenderry Power Plant or any other Power Plant in the country.”

His motion was only supported by one other councillor and, after a number of councillors made their views known, Cllr Smollen decided to change his motion’s wording to that of calling on the Government “to consider the cessation of the importation of woodchips into Ireland while discussions take place around incentivising farmers to grow crops as fuel for the plant instead.”

The changed motion was seconded by Cllr Clare Claffey. 

When outlining his initial motion, Cllr Smollen said Ireland was the laughing stock of other countries because of the current situation “where peat harvesting has been stopped and yet we are importing woodchips from Brazil, peat from Latvia and briquettes from Germany. Well over a thousand jobs have been lost in Offaly because of the government’s decarbonisation programme. Offaly is the third poorest county in Ireland. We all know that worldwide our carbon emissions must be reduced, but the government’s way of doing it is not the way to do it.” 

Cllr Robert McDermott said he couldn’t support Cllr Smollen’s motion. 

“The motion as proposed,” he remarked, “cannot and should not be supported in its current form because it ignores some very important facts – indeed, it’s somewhat fact-free. Ireland does not currently produce sufficient biomass to sustain Edenderry Power. The immediate cessation of imports would lead to the closure of the plant with serious local and national consequences. So, let’s look at the factual reality and examine what needs to happen to sustain Edenderry Power.” 

Cllr McDermott pointed out that Edenderry power station employs 60 people directly with associated support roles in the wider community, 2 million euro direct and similar on indirect wages. He said a combination of biomass materials is needed to produce the correct fuel mix for power generation at the Power Plant.

“In order to achieve the required biomass mix, Bord na Móna sources the vast majority (60 Irish suppliers) of sustainable residual material from indigenous suppliers in Ireland. This accounts for over 90% of the material needed for burning in the plant. This residual material is sourced as a by-product of other industries and the type of product used is residual material from the forestry industry including brash, Lop and Top, and sawmill residue.” 

Cllr McDermott pointed out that Biomass is an internationally traded fuel and for Edenderry Power to maintain security of supply it has a requirement to import additional residual material from other jurisdictions.

“Edenderry Power,” he remarked, “is the largest renewable dispatchable generation plant on the island and if unable to operate, due to a fuel restriction, its output would be replaced with another thermal plant operating on fossil fuel. The remaining biomass required cannot be acquired locally due to volume and suitability constraints, it is supplemented with material sourced internationally as a result. The quantity of imported biomass energy used by Edenderry Power was 8% of the overall fuel consumption in 2022.” 

Cllr Liam Quinn strongly agreed. Both councillors pointed out that for Edenderry Power to cease imports of Biomass the Government will need to incentivise farmers to grow biomass.

The councillors said the Council should send a request to the Minister to introduce a scheme to make it profitable for Irish farmers to grow the required products for Biomass, ensuring the future of Edenderry Power while avoiding the need for such imports as the woodchips presently coming from Brazil. 

Cllrs Quinn and McDermott added that the development of agricultural biomass production at the scale required won’t happen overnight, therefore “the import of an internationally traded commodity to supplement indigenous product and thus sustain Edenderry Power is the only way we can retain the Plant and its workforce at this moment in time.” It was agreed to send a request to the Minister to introduce a scheme to make it profitable for Irish farmers to grow the required products for Biomass. 

All the other councillors strongly agreed that protecting the 100 direct and indirect jobs at Edenderry Power was the most important thing. They pointed out that the power plant is also a major rate payer in Offaly.  

Cllr Liam Quinn pointed out that it would be wrong for people to try and “climate shame” Offaly. He said Offaly has done “as much heavy lifting as any county when it comes to fighting climate change.” 

Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick said they had to be positive about this “because no one wants to see Edenderry Power going the way of Shannonbridge and Lanesboro power stations.” 

Cllr John Clendennen said Cllr Smollen’s initial motion was “irresponsible. Would he have submitted such a motion if the power plant had been in Clara? We have to find a proactive way with this issue. We should write to Edenderry Power and state our strong support for them.” 

Cllr Smollen told the meeting that “at no stage did I call for the closure of Edenderry Power. Anybody who would read that into my motion needs to go to Specsavers. All I am saying is we need a realistic alternative to the current situation where we are importing from Brazil. The Green Party tail is wagging the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael dog and quite a few mistakes are being made along the way.” 

Cllr John Carroll said that as things stand there is no choice but to import woodchips from Brazil.

“No one wants to see it coming from Brazil but we have no other choice. We have to live with it.” 

A vote was then taken by the councillors concerning the two motions before the Council.

Two councillors voted for Cllr Smollen’s motion and 12 councillors voted for the motion put forward by Cllrs McDermott and Quinn. The latter motion was carried, which was two motions combined.

It stated: “This council supports the continued generation of electricity at Edenderry Power as a plant supporting over 100 direct and indirect jobs and as a major rate payer in County Offaly. We request the Minister to introduce a scheme to make it profitable for Irish farmers to grow the required products for Biomass, ensuring the future of Edenderry Power while avoiding the need for such imports.”