Nuclear Plants Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16 ============================================================ Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford The reality is that we are already using nuclear energy in this country, as the Minister of State knows, because we have to import through the interconnector. The level of that import has grown in the past few years from 10% of our energy in 2023, to 15% in 2024, and to 17% in 2025. Of what we are taking already, a lot of the energy is provided through nuclear energy. I know the Minister of State is a strong supporter of the Celtic interconnector with France, and we know the majority of energy that is produced in France is produced through nuclear energy. I do not believe we are going to see an overnight change. This is not something that is going to happen immediately but to completely rule out a discussion on using this form of energy is wrong. As part of the long-term strategy for the State, it is something we have to consider. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-16