By  Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
THE chairman of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has been accused of a conflict of interest because of his involvement in an energy company that stands to make millions from massive new wind farms planned for the midlands.
Brendan Halligan, the former general secretary of the Labour Party and a lobbyist, has been at the helm of the SEAI since he was appointed by the previous government in October 2007, and reappointed by Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte last summer.
As chairman, he plays a pivotal role in shaping Government policy and incentivising renewable energy, and is privy to sensitive information flowing between the SEAI and Government.
Yet five months after his appointment to head up the SEAI in Octoer 2007 Mr Halligan was appointed as a director of Mainstream Renewable Energy Ltd, a wind energy company founded by his friend and business associate Eddie O’Connor – a position he still holds while simultaneously acting as chairman of SEAI. He then invested just over €500,000 in buying shares in the company in August 2008.
Leading academics say the dual role amounts to a clear conflict of interest. Until early 2011, Mainstream’s focus was largely abroad but in the summer of that year, the company announced its intention to invest €1.5bn in Irish wind farms.
Former ESRI energy economist and Sussex University economics professor Richard Tol said: ‘It’s obvious that he has a personal interest in pushing wind rather than any other renewable.’ Given the dominance of wind over other forms of renewables in Ireland, he said it would be next to impossible for Mr Halligan to recuse himself from board meetings relating to wind. ‘I would say that legally there is nothing wrong here but it’s clear there is an insider who knows a lot and who could personally profit from the whole thing,’ the professor added.
The company has now signed up hundreds of farmers as part of a controversial plan to export energy to Britain from swathes of new wind turbines to be installed across the Irish Midlands and has been busy lobbying Mr Rabbitte, who is also Mr Halligan’s former colleague.
The minister’s role in the debate has already been a source of controversy. As the extraordinary scale of proposed wind farms has emerged in recent weeks, with proposals for 2,300 turbines across the Midlands, it has been claimed the minister is acting like it is a ‘done deal’. Mainstream is one of two companies, along with Element Power with plans for windfarms in the area.
A report on RTÉ’s Six One news last month, in which an elderly couple were seen in tears explaining how their retirement dream had been destroyed by a turbine 700m from their home was immediately followed by a clip of Mr Rabbitte bluntly rejecting any complaints about the Government’s wind policy, saying it was about ‘creating wealth’.
‘This is about jobs, this is about creating wealth for Ireland and for the Midlands,’ he said. ‘Why is the emphasis on the protest? Why is the emphasis not on the fact that we are creating new jobs in a new industry in a sector that is renewable, in a sector that reduces the cost of energy to Ireland?’ The Government says the project will create between 3,000 and 6,000 jobs in construction, represent a €1bn investment and generate €900m in rates alone for local authorities over its lifetime.
The minister’s recent signing of a memorandum of understanding with the British government to supply renewable energy in January – which we reveal was the specific issue that Mr Halligan and Mainstream lobbied him about – has since come under fire.
Andrew Duncan of the Lakeland wind farms information group said the Government was behaving as if the decision to locate so many wind turbines in five counties was a ‘done deal. We are the pawns in a very large game’.
Yvonne Cronin, spokeswoman for another group, Crewe, a coalition of community groups against wind turbines too close to people’s homes, said it was ‘crazy’ for the Government to be promoting wind energy in the absence of clear national guidelines.
The existing guidelines, dating from 2006, she said, ‘do not take into account the tripling in size of wind turbines’ to a height of 180m or more, yet most counties merely sought a minimum distance between a turbine and a family home of only 500m.
Company records confirm that Mr Halligan retained his valuable Mainstream shareholding in his own name until some time last year, when a €60m fundraising deal saw a huge volume of shares being transferred and moved.
He no longer appears on the share register but he declined to answer questions about whether he had transferred his shares to a nominee or other entity last year. He remains a director.
Mainstream also failed to respond to this week to questions about conflicts of interest and whether or not Mr Haligan had now disposed of the shares.
The MoS also asked the SEAI a set of 15 questions related to the possibility of a conflict of interest between Mr Halligan’s role as chairman and his business interests with Mainstream. The questions asked whether Mr Halligan’s commercial inter-ests had been fully declared to the SEAI and, if so, how the authority had ensured that a conflict of interest was avoided. The SEAI issued a one-line response and refused to elaborate when pressed further.
‘The SEAI takes its responsibility for the governance of the authority very seriously and acts in accordance with prevailing best practice in the governance of state bodies,’ a spokesman said.
That best practice, though, seems at odds with many other jurisdictions where resignations from government bodies are commonplace if there is even a perceived conflict of interest.
Last night, a Harvard University expert on business and political ethics criticised the SEAI’s failure to be more transparent. ‘That’s a legal answer. That’s not an ethical answer.
Compliance is not ethics,’ said Jeffrey Seglin of the university’s Kennedy School of Government.
Mr Seglin said Mr Halligan’s dual role, while not illegal, was likely to be ethically problematic. ‘Is it ethical? Probably not.
‘There’s a conflict of interest where the person stands to gain financially so there could very well be ethical issues with this, regardless of whether it’s legal to do.
‘At the very least, you need transparency about what steps you are going to be taking to make sure decisions are made fairly and effectively.
‘Sinn Féin energy spokesman Michael Colreavy said he would raise the matter in the Dáil next week. ‘There has to be a potential conflict of interest here. That’s very, very clear.’ The MOS first emailed questions to Mr Halligan more than two weeks ago but he declined to answer. ‘If I give you a response, I give you a response. If not, I won’t,’ he told our reporter before hanging up.
The follow up article below was published on June 23, 2013.Â
Dáil probe urged into energy chief over wind farms
By: Michael O’Farrell
A LABOUR senator is demanding that the Government-appointed chairman of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland – himself a Labour Party grandee – be questioned in the Oireachtas, over claims of a conflict of interest.
SEAI chairman Brendan Halligan has been facing accusations since this newspaper revealed his commercial involvement in a wind energy company which stands to make millions from massive new wind farms in the midlands.
Mr Halligan, a renowned lobbyist and Labour Party insider, plays a pivotal role in shaping Government policy on renewable energy and is privy to sensitive information flowing between the SEAI and Government. But he is also a director – and until recently a shareholder – of Mainstream Renewable Energy Ltd, which is planning to build hundreds of massive turbines across the midlands.
Last night Labour Senator John Whelan said of Mr Halligan’s dual role: ‘If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what it is.
‘We have seen too much in this country in the past and if we have learned anything it’s that you cannot serve the public interest and private concerns as well.’
Others such as former ESRI energy economist and current Sussex University Department of Economics Professor, Richard Tol, have already criticised Mr Halligan’s dual role. ‘It looks like he has a personal interest in pushing wind rather than any renewable,’ he said. ‘It’s also clear that he has a personal interest in one company over the other companies and that is strange. He should never find himself in that position.’
Last night Senator Whelan, Labour’s Seanad energy spokesman, broke ranks with his party and called for a Dáil investigation. He said he would raise the matter with Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte, who reappointed Mr Halligan as SEAI chairman last summer.
In April, the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that ten months after he was first appointed in August 2008, Mr Halligan obtained a €500,000 shareholding in Mainstream. It appears he has recently disposed of his shares but remains a nonexecutive director. The issue of wind farms is increasingly contentious.
This week around 1,000 protesters opposed to the midland wind farms gathered outside an EU energy summit at Dublin Castle.
Last night neither Mr Halligan nor Mainstream responded to inquiries about whether or not they would be willing to answer TDs’ questions about possible conflicts of interest.
