Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I share the Taoiseach's views on the sensitivity of that period. However, I believe the limit should be reduced substantially from 30 years. If the Freedom of Information Act were applied, people would be entitled to get information in as broad a way as possible without infringing issues of national security.

The latest State papers that were released are interesting in many ways. For instance, the late and much lamented singer, Joe Dolan, was under surveillance when he went to Moscow in the 1970s. I am not sure whether this was usual procedure for people who travelled to the former USSR or other eastern bloc states. In the 1970s, there was an enormous controversy about the business of nuclear power stations and the one proposed to be built at Carnsore Point, County Wexford. An official in the Department of the Taoiseach, who I assume is no longer there, wrote in a memo that there was "little time to be lost before placing orders for a nuclear station". It was as if one could wave a wand and have a station placed wherever one liked. In view of comments made by various individuals and organisations recently, is the Government giving the matter of nuclear power any consideration?

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