Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I share the concerns of other Senators with regard to the unhappy situation in Cahirsiveen. I endorse the very strong statement on the matter that was issued yesterday by my constituency colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley. I support the remarks of Senator Ó Donnghaile on the issue.

I do not usually use a script, but I will be treading on thin ice on this issue and, as such, will refer to my notes. I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange for a debate on nuclear energy as soon as possible in the autumn session. Under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, the production of nuclear energy is prohibited. There is, however, no ban on the consumption of nuclear energy. Since 2012, Ireland has been increasingly interconnected with the British grid. We are currently importing energy from mixed sources, including nuclear energy.

Resistance to nuclear energy is nowhere near as strong as it was in the 1960s when public opinion put paid to Des O'Malley's courageous project at Carnsore Point. I am one of the Woodstock generation. Little did we know when we stopped the project at Carnsore Point that the plant at Moneypoint would be built and little did we know about global warming or climate change.

Ireland is committed to a target of achieving 70% renewable energy by 2030, but how many of us believe that can be attained? Each day last week, more than 60% of electricity was generated from gas. The Kinsale gas field is almost exhausted and further offshore exploration is being ruled out. Interestingly, the State has turned its back on important LNG terminals, as I, being a Kerryman, know only too well. An over-reliance on wind power is turning our beautiful rural landscape into a forest of ugly windmills. In my county of Kerry there has been an inexplicable rush to facilitate planning for ever bigger and uglier wind farms, with many now being sited in built-up suburban areas.

Many people understandably fear nuclear power. They immediately think of Chernobyl or nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are a travesty of human endeavour, but they have nothing to do with nuclear power. We are now in an era of smaller, modular nuclear reactors. They are safer and create less waste than the reactors that were built in the past. In fact, some of these new models can reuse the waste they produce and create more power from it. They are less costly and quicker to build than was previously the case. There are several Stone Age nuclear reactors just a few miles across the Irish Sea from Dublin. It is very likely that Britain and most European Union countries will utilise the smaller nuclear modules in the next decade.

In addition, science is on the cusp of making nuclear fusion a reality. It is much safer and more efficient than nuclear fission. It is the future. The first prototype is currently under construction in southern France. The Citizens' Assembly on climate change and the Joint Committee on Climate Action inexplicably failed to properly address the option of nuclear power generation. It has transformative potential in the context of how we can achieve climate change targets. It would add to what can be achieved through the use of renewables and would make zero emissions a real prospect in our time. A debate on this matter is needed. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.