Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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James O'Connor (FF), Cork East

Sometimes I wonder whether Róisín Shortall had a point but I will say this. We have the possibility to follow what other countries in the 27 EU countries have done already by implementing nuclear power. We can look at Finland. The grand committee of the Finish Parliament was in Leinster House two weeks ago. Finland has the same population as Ireland and 40% of its energy comes from nuclear power. As a consequence, its citizens, small businesses and the economy of Finland have the cheapest energy in the European Union. We have had lots of discussion about renewables. Looking at the potential of nuclear energy and understanding the strategic aims and objectives of decarbonising our economy, common sense will tell us from what other countries have done successfully, that nuclear energy is the way to go.
The technology is changing. It is safer in the era of AI and with what it can do for engineering it is now easier than ever to do this successfully. Is it time we looked at this as an option, as other countries have done successfully?
People here will always pick the worst examples of where nuclear has gone wrong. I understand that is for reasons of safety and because of debates we have had in times gone by, but can we not acknowledge 30, 40 or 50 years later that things have changed, it is safer and, as a consequence of our inaction and the mistake of putting that prohibition in place, we have put ourselves in a vulnerable position when it comes to energy security and energy sovereignty. We have the opportunity to become, as other countries have, a cheaper place for people to get energy and to bring down bills in this country once and for all.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14