John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a good debate to have. A number of months ago I stood up in this House and said we should have a debate and discussion about the use of nuclear energy and in my political outlook, having a debate on what could be perceived as contentious issues is the best way to resolve them. It is only when you challenge arguments, have debates and have opposing views against one another that you can really test out your opinion to see if it is correct or not.

That is the logic I apply to all of my political outlook and to most of the decisions I make within politics and I did that with nuclear energy. I had a number of meetings with people who are pro-nuclear energy, I met the pro-nuclear energy people when I was at COP26 in Glasgow and then I brought it up in the Seanad. I listened to what the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, had to say on it and I listened to what the Minister had to say about it today. I have changed my view on it somewhat, based on being able to listen to the arguments of both sides. That is not to say that people who propose nuclear energy have a certain view or anything but as the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan said, it is not the magic bullet. It is not something that will be able to resolve the situation and it will not help us to get to 70% or 80% renewables by 2030 at the expense of wind or solar energy. When I look at the motion, one of the points that is made is that "the average nuclear reactor produces 1 gigawatt (GW) of electricity; based on the capacity factors listed above, 431 wind turbines are required to generate the same level of energy". I guarantee that you would be able to build 431 wind turbines quicker than a small nuclear reactor. Senator Dooley mentioned the difficulties that would be involved. Can Senator Keogan imagine if someone came along and said they wanted to build a nuclear reactor in Duleek? I do not mean that in a-----