Sharon Keogan (Independent)

The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is very welcome. I congratulate him on his elevation into this role.

I would like to ask the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications a simple question: where does nuclear power fit into Ireland's energy future? I ask this not in the abstract but with real urgency because the Celtic interconnector is due to come online in 2026. It is time we faced reality. Right now, under Irish law, Eirgrid is legally barred from using electricity generated by nuclear fission, yet in practice we import it anyway. In 2020, nearly 1% of our electricity came from British nuclear plants. What we have is a legal ban that does not stop nuclear energy; it just stops us from talking honestly about it.

We are standing on a tightrope. On one hand there are rising energy demands, not least from data centres that could consume up to 40% and maybe even 70% of our electricity within a decade. On the other, there is a plan to phase out fossil fuels without a reliable replacement. That is not a transition; that is a gamble. We need to ask what happens if the wind does not blow. What happens when the grid is under pressure? People working from home, families trying to stay warm in winter and small businesses already squeezed by costs are the ones who pay the price. In some cases, that price is more than financial; it is about well-being and even survival.

The word "nuclear" still makes some people nervous but this is not 1986. Technologies have changed, safe standards have changed and our climate challenge has changed. We need clean, reliable and consistent energy and nuclear can deliver that. France knows this. That is why more than 65% of its electricity comes from nuclear power. That is the power that we will be connecting to with the Celtic interconnector. Here is the contradiction: we ban nuclear generation while plugging ourselves into a system that runs on it elsewhere. That is not leadership; that is outsourcing our responsibility. If the Minister believes, as his predecessor said, that nuclear is part of our future, when will we stop pretending that it is not part of our present? Let us bring clarity to this conversation. Let us amend the legislation or at the very least open a serious national review on the role nuclear could play and should play. We owe it to ourselves and to the people of this country to plan for the future, not just posture for it.