School wants credit from Government for energy it produces

The Irish Times - Saturday, September 15, 2012

ANN HEALY in Athenry

A SCHOOL in Co Galway yesterday turned its playground into a farmyard complete with livestock in an unusual protest directed at the Government’s energy policy.

Lisheenkyle National School, four miles from Athenry, Co Galway, claims to be the only school in the Republic with its own wind turbine.

Teachers and pupils were protesting against restrictive green energy regulations that preclude a school – as opposed to a farm or other kind of enterprise – from obtaining credits or cash for the wind energy it produces out of school hours. As the turbine quietly sliced the air in the windswept school yard, the pupils eagerly got involved in the “farm sit-in”. They petted a pony, a calf, chickens and pups brought along for the day by local farmers, parents and friends.

School principal Anne Keary and the 227 pupils at Lisheenkyle National School want to send a message to Minister for Communications, Energy and National Resources Pat Rabbitte, that protocols governing micro generation, which is the small-scale generation of electric power by individuals, small businesses such as farms and communities, need to be broadened to include schools.

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