James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Household electricity prices in the EU in 2024 were the highest in Ireland and the lowest in Finland. The reason for this is that Finland generates 35% of its energy from nuclear power. Ireland has a growing economy of more than 5.3 million people. Do we need another Ardnacrusha Shannon scheme moment a century on where we decide how we are going to power our economy? In my constituency of Cork East, thousands of acres of agricultural land, the finest in the country powering our world-leading dairy sector. are being swallowed up for solar farms. It is generating huge unhappiness. Do we need a more sustainable, carbon-neutral approach, in the area of nuclear energy to power our economy for another century like the Shannon scheme and Ardnacrusha did at the foundation of the State?

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