Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Apologies have been received from Deputy Cronin and Senator Stephenson.

I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if a member's statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that any such direction be complied with.

The minutes of the meeting of 13 May have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed.

We have two items of correspondence. No. 0022-2026 is the original letter regarding the arterial drainage (amendment) Bill.

Members will recall that last week's meeting received am extensive and comprehensive departmental briefing on the provisions of the proposed Bill. Members had every opportunity to put all their questions and receive all the information they required. I have reviewed this meeting and I believe the meeting briefing we had was sufficient. In light of that, I believe pre-legislative scrutiny is not required in this instance because we have effectively done it in all but name. We would only be going through exactly the same process if we did it again. Can we agree that what we did was adequate? Agreed.

The next item is a letter from Dr. Plevný of the Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. At the last meeting it was suggested we would revisit this item in correspondence. It is a thank you letter to the committee for the informal meeting held in November 2025. It states they would be happy to facilitate a visit to the Dukovany power station. The Czech use of nuclear energy was a clear point of difference in energy generation between Ireland and Czechia. As the nuclear issue has been discussed in other areas recently, do members wish to include this topic on our future work programme as part of critical infrastructure that may be required? Can we agree to include it on our work programme? I do not specifically mean the visit; let us have some discussion.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I think so. It is very important that we look at all alternatives that are out there at the moment. I know we talked about it here previously. While most of our memories of nuclear related to Sellafield in the past and the devastation that it caused on the east coast around County Louth and north county Dublin, technology has advanced hugely since that. A conversation needs to be had. At this stage, nothing is going to happen over night. It will probably be 20 years away at the very best and it is possibly as far away as 40 years. What we are doing is looking to the future for the country.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Are there any other comments on including it as a topic on our work programme? We have wind energy-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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If we cannot build wind turbines and solar panels, we cannot build a nuclear power station. Which constituency does it go into?

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Is that the only issue that this is about?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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It will be so hard to build it. I cannot imagine that any locality is going to welcome a nuclear power station in their locality.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I know. I understand that.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I just cannot see it happening. It is no harm to think about it.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will explore the topic. We will include the topic on our work programme. That is all I am saying. As the Deputy knows, we will have nuclear power from France one of these days and we already have it from the UK. We like nuclear energy but we do not like a plant near us. That is about where it is at.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I hear a lot of the younger people in my constituency. We talk to them about energy. They talk to me about nuclear and what it has to offer.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Would the Deputy put a plant in his constituency?

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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That is not the issue for today.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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That is another issue. As I say, we are only passing through here. We are getting to the stage here at our age that in another ten or 15 years we will be past our sell-by date, if we are not already. It is for our young people coming through to make that decision. The conversation needs to happen now.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The final point to make is the North-South interconnector project was started in 2008 and it is nowhere near being built. That is being held up because EirGrid is forcing it through overground and the people want it undergrounded. Consent is a physical consideration in all these projects. We are having discussion about consent, to a certain extent, in the latter part of this meeting. We need to recognise that it is a real element of this whole process.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely. I agree with Deputy Tóibín about consent. The people will decide whether nuclear power will happen in the future - not us here in Parliament. We are only going to have the conversation, get the information and see where it brings us. It will be the people at the end of the day because they vote us in and they will decide. They have a choice every five years. This is not something that will happen in five years or the five years after that or even in 15 years. At the very best, we are looking at 20 years and it is more than likely 40 years before this will happen.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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If the issue was to be there as part of the critical infrastructure, it is a long way down the road. Let us just establish some facts on the matter and get some presentations. Nobody in this Dáil will make a definitive decision. The question of whether the Deputy wants it in his constituency is way down the road but the topic is worth the discussion.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There is no problem. I will let the Deputy have it in his constituency.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy said he would have it for Offaly because of the turf.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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That's a headline in the Offaly Express.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will include that topic on the programme and come back to it separately. We will suspend briefly while our witnesses come in.