Greenpeace International has called on the Government to halt licensing of oil exploration in the Atlantic and to promote development of offshore wind energy instead.
"Oil is a dying business," Mr John Bowler, the environmental organisation's spokesman said at a press conference on board the m.v. Greenpeace in Galway port yesterday. Ireland's offshore winds could fuel 14 times this island's annual consumption of electricity, he claimed.
"Harnessing just a small percentage of this resource would be significant in enabling Ireland to meet its commitment to cut carbon dioxide emissions."
The visit of the ship - nicknamed the "black pig" - is part of a global campaign to protect the climate and reduce consumption of fossil fuels. It has been protesting in British waters against seismic exploration activities by oil companies.
A detailed Greenpeace analysis of climate change and fossil fuels has found that the world can only afford to burn around 25 per cent of current known economic reserves of all three fossil fuels, based on existing science.
Denmark has installed offshore wind turbines as a form of renewable energy, but some alternative energy commentators believe that the Irish Atlantic seaboard is too windy for the current technology.
