Mr. Frank Turvey:

I thank the joint committee for giving us, as representatives of BENE, the opportunity to speak to it. I will start by introducing my colleagues and saying a little about their backgrounds and why we consider ourselves competent to talk about nuclear power. Dr. Tom O'Flaherty is a former chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, RPII; Mr. Denis Duff is a retired ESB mechanical engineer, while Professor Philip Walton is a professor emeritus from University College Galway. I am a marine, mechanical and nuclear engineer and a former assistant to Dr. O'Flaherty at the RPII. We are probably the most experienced and qualified group to advise on the use of nuclear power in this country. Our collective experience covers reactor design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance. It is important to point out that we have no vested interests in the nuclear power industry. We are here to explain why many respected semi-State and other bodies have called for the use of nuclear energy to be considered in Ireland. These include the Commission for Energy Regulation, EirGrid, the ESB, Airtricity, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Academy of Engineering, IBEC, the ICTU and Forfás, as well as Senator Feargal Quinn. In addition, a previous Oireachtas committee reported in June 2006 that "it is imperative that there should be informed debate on nuclear-generated electricity". Sadly, however, all of these calls have been disregarded for some reason or other. Mr.Duff will expand on and outline the actions we would like the committee to recommend to correct this sad and dangerous situation.