Nuclear Plants
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I agree. From a departmental perspective, we are not losing focus. We are absolutely targeting this. We are looking at interconnection as well. As the Deputy knows - the North-South interconnector is kind of in his area as well - we will have the Celtic interconnector. We want to build a more complex grid right across the European Union, which will help to balance the load, the demand and the generation, and we can do that. However, there is nothing wrong with accepting an academic debate. I do not say that in a throwaway manner. Of course, it always good to have checks and balances and if there is an academic debate going on, we will facilitate that and participate in it but our action-oriented plan is about capturing the wind, both onshore and offshore. It is about putting in place a structured grid that will allow electricity to be used without constraint across the State. We want to connect North to South, which is an important one, and then there is the Celtic interconnector. We also need to look then to other storage opportunities, which we have at the moment in relation to battery, but we need to do more than just an academic conversation around hydrogen because there is demand for that and for ammonia right across Europe at the moment.

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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