Mr. Denis Duff:

The Chairman has made a very good point. I have considered the option and examined the matter. Let us say a coal-fired station with carbon capture and storage was proposed. I imagine there would still be massive opposition to such a proposal. There was massive opposition to benign generators such as wind turbines. Ireland has become a nation of objectors but perhaps we are a globe of objectors. I have formed the opinion that there would still be massive opposition even if we set aside a 20 acre bank of land and told people that we would do nothing with the land.

Nuclear power has one benefit over distributed energy systems such as wind. However, I am not trying to knock wind power but use it for comparative purposes. Wind turbines would be pervasive so, therefore, the protest will be pervasive. A nuclear power station on the site of Moneypoint, an existing power station site, would concentrate the objections on the technology and one location. We already have electricity pylons to bring energy from Moneypoint as far as Dublin and Meath so there would no longer be pervasive objections.

A number of unofficial opinion polls in the likes of www.thejournal.ie and various academic research suggests a different response to certain questions. I shall read one opinion poll from www.thejournal.ie that has been handed to me which stated that 57% of participants were in favour of considering nuclear power. BENE has travelled around the country and conducted many debates with the public and academic organisations. At the end of each debate we ask attendees to answer our opinion poll and so far we have only lost two debates but won the rest. Therefore, opposition is not as pervasive as people might imagine. However, it does exist, is very serious and must be taken into account.