!00% renewables = 100% unaffordables

The third step is to put energy policy changes currently under contemplation on hold. If we want to get to Dublin, best we don't start from here. We need a better road map to a clear destination.

The fourth step is to compile independent evidence for power choices needed in the long term. This won't be easy. Bipartisan support is needed to 'firm' investment expectations themselves.

Who should be members of an independent review panel? Private sector engineers with relevant experience should dominate. Maybe one or two economists knowledgeable in the field to keep an accurate eye on energy source costs, properly and comparably measured. Ideally, no, or few, official agencies financed by the taxpayer. These days, these agencies' independence is affected by political pressures from their ministerial masters, whether they admit it or not. Last, neither politicians of any tribe nor their advocate supporters should be included.

Getting clear advice will still be difficult in practice. As Michael Crichton concluded in his reference-thick climate change novel State of Fear (Harper Collins, 2004):

Everybody has an agenda. Except me.

Quite so.