Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Perhaps one out of four from the Taoiseach is not that bad.

However, I also asked whether the fire service would have an emergency exercise to assess how we might cope. That is what it seeks, but I have not had an answer. There has never been such an exercise. Second, I requested an audit of the local authority plans rather than of the national plan, which is different. The local authority plans have not been audited by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Third, I asked whether the Taoiseach had made a formal submission to the British Government. We know about the cases against Sellafield under UNCLOS and so forth, but the current issue is expansion rather than the retention of existing installations.

Since the Government supported my amendment in 1999 ruling out nuclear power in law, we know what it is against. The question that people need answered is what the Government is for. We are the fifth most oil-dependent country in the world, and that position is getting worse. We are building 300 km of road this year and no rail. What is the Government for when it comes to acting on the potential of renewables and energy savings?

A report has stated that wind farms could transform the Irish Sea from the most radioactive in the world to the green energy powerhouse of Europe. Will the Government act on that or will it continue supporting EURATOM, which promotes nuclear expansion? Will it shrug its shoulders when Forfás presents nuclear power as an option for Ireland and the proposed Schedule 7 in the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill leaves open the possibility of building a plant?

Apart from helping the victims and closing nuclear installations, which we hope will happen, the best commemoration would be to follow the example of Sweden which has said that by 2020 it will end its reliance on oil and phase out nuclear power. That is the sort of action that we require from the Government. Will the Taoiseach show us the only real action that can truly commemorate Chernobyl and indicate that we have learnt lessons?

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