Nuclear Plants
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I appreciate his response. I wonder about this new focus on nuclear energy. There has been a lot of commentary and priority questions in respect of it. I mentioned the newspaper headlines which state that the Cabinet is considering it. I am deeply concerned about this matter from a number of perspectives. The Minister of State touched on it when he referred to the waste involved, public support and, more importantly, the fact that Ireland's strength needs to be in the delivery and advancement of renewable technologies, particularly offshore wind. That is our great strength. Others have strength, well-developed for decades, in the area of nuclear energy, and we will use some of that. I do not see a contradiction in that regard. We need to play to our strengths. The real risk here is that we get distracted, go down a rabbit hole and continue to miss the really important milestones that we have to reach. That is where the focus needs to be.

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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