Yeah there are still a few peat burning stations, The older ones are now shut / in the process of being shut down. The reason they exsist is pretty simple. Before natural gas was discovered Ireland had no other independent source of fossil fuel power. There's no signifigant coal, no oil etc so the 1940s, 50 and part of the 1960's sollution was to use peat. Most of those old stations were very inefficient and didn't meet modern EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) rules so were just closed down rather than replaced. However one new one recently opened in the midlands. Check out
www.esb.ie for more details. The bulk of power now in Ireland is produced by natural gas (usually combined cycle [ i.e. gas turbine where the exhaust gas raises steam for a traditional thermal plant]) these units have been around for quite a while now and are a LOT more efficient than regular powerplants. There's also a relatively large coal fired station on the west coast at Moneypoint.
Hopefully the current competition laws don't force us into a california style energy crisis in the coming years!! I don't think the current government are stupid enough to let that happen though they're very business aware.
