Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the speakers although I do not agree with all that they said. Both the Taoiseach and I made clear our concerns in regard to the security of energy supply at the dinner and also at the formal Council meeting. During my time as Minister with responsibility for energy I said that one size does not fit all in regard to competition and the deregulation of the energy market within Europe. Inevitably, an island on the west side of Europe will struggle to have competition because of the size of the market. This point was echoed by Cyprus, Malta and a number of other small island states. This is one of the reasons there was a reference to that in the conclusions. I totally reject what Deputy Gormley said about the Government's view on nuclear energy. We are absolutely against nuclear energy.

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