Ken O'Flynn: Challenges Taoiseach on Nuclear Ban vs Imports

Taoiseach, yesterday's Independent Newspapers, the headlines read Ireland should seriously look at an option of nuclear power, says Taoiseach You said in Eireann, and I'm quoting you directly We certainly should look at, examine serious options like nuclear power Taoiseach, I asked you the exact same question in the chamber two weeks ago Your answer was a direction differently travelled It has to be renewables, was the area that you discussed You dismissed the Barry Rowe oil field, you defended the 2021 ban on oil and gas exploration You cited enormous costs on nuclear energy That's the record, on nuclear energy for regions of caution That position is on the record of this house In response to my question, so which is it? The answer that you gave this chamber two weeks ago The answer that you gave the cameras in Armenia Because the contradiction continues on, Taoiseach We now have there a Minister of Finance and Tánaiste, Simon Harris Who says nuclear energy should be considered with an open mind Your Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, has said There's an argument, again, for nuclear energy And that the argument is decades old And we're now living in a different world Your own MEP, Billy Kelleher, the President that would be Says that he would back a motion to overturn the 1999 ban On the Fianna Fáil Ardesh this month Taoiseach, your Ministers and your MEPs and your backbenchers Are all moving one direction Yet the 1999 ban remains law The 2021 oil and gas exploration ban remains law And the government has introduced neither legislation To lift the nuclear prohibitations Nor has it plans to reverse the exploration ban I made a point to you in this chamber two weeks ago, Taoiseach And you did not deny it, which is on the record of the house Ireland bans nuclear energy at home While it imports nuclear-generated energy directly from France Through the Celtic interconnector That is not climate leadership, Taoiseach That is policy contradiction Which is sitting on an unanswered record of this house Ireland imports 86% of its energy One of the highest dependence rates in Europe Norway and the United Kingdom face the same markets The same pressures, indeed But they produce energy We import it They have options We have none because of government policy That has closed every door And you've dressed it up as government policy Taoiseach, will you today in this house, on the record Commit to bringing forward government legislation To lift the 1999 nuclear ban Or will you reverse the 2021 gas and oil exploration ban To allow Barrier Row to be excavated Or will the Irish families that continue paying The highest prices now in Europe Will they continue to pay those highest prices in Europe Or will you save your real answers for foreign summits? Thank you Thank you, Deputy. Taoiseach First of all, Deputy When you asked that question last week I did stress the importance of renewable energy And in Armenia, I made it very clear That our immediate focus was on offshore wind And I pointed out the very significant progress We've made in respect of onshore wind And indeed solar now, Deputy Solar is moving at pace in Ireland And I trust you're supportive of that too And Deputy James O'Connor is introducing legislation Government will examine that And government will examine the question Of a legislative response in respect of nuclear But understanding that it will take time, Deputy It's not going to immediately alleviate The immediate pressures that people are under And one of the reasons we, for example Announced investment in a strategic reserve, LNG Was to deal with the security issue of energy supply That if anything was to happen to gas interconnectors Through third-party actors, malign third-party actors That we would need a fallback And that got attacked as an anti-climate measure Or somehow portrayed as rowing back When in fact it was a very strong advice In the department in respect of our vulnerability To anything happening to those gas interconnectors We're not connected yet, Deputy, to France So we're not yet in purporting nuclear That's been delayed a bit to no fault of government Or anything like that But yes, I take your point That once that connection happens We will be, to all intents and purposes Importing energy generated to France's nuclear capacity And if we connect to Spain in fullness of time It would more likely be renewable of one sort or another Given the propensity of renewable in the Iberian Peninsula So I do believe we should have a serious examination of nuclear Because we do need to work out costs, timelines But there have been advances in technology In the smaller reactors and so on And I'm all for that, Deputy In terms of the Barry-Rowe I mean, Barry-Rowe was a long time around How are you? Not quite as long as Barry-Rowe Although I do travel the length and breadth of the Barry-Rowe parish But the oil issue is a long time around And successive companies This is the only point I make in respect of it Either didn't feel the capacity was there Or were not in a position to bring it to surface and so on It didn't appear at any stage to be economical To its long, long history But I'm not an expert on that But we do want to We're very clearly focused in terms of the renewable agenda And we've made huge progress in this country And if we're honest Fossil fuels has impacted negatively on the world for a long, long time Taoiseach, thank you And Taoiseach, what you've done now in this chamber Is exactly what you've done in Armenia You've said a great deal while committing to nothing Taoiseach, I think it's important You've announced and you've said twice now on this occasion In the House in the last hour About Spain and renewable and connecting to Spain I think it's worth putting on the record of this House Because people hold up Spain as the great renewable energy Spain actually, their renewable energy is 21% And their nuclear energy is 20% So the most chances And if we do connect to Spain, which is our plan is We will be connecting And we will be taking nuclear energy as well from Spain And we have to admit There is a policy deficit here Of when you're looking at Taking in nuclear energy from a foreign body And then refusing to look And you have a ban on your own legislation here And Taoiseach, we have spoken about Barry Rowe We've been back and forth Deputy Collins has been brilliant speaking about Barry Rowe Let them drill, lift the ban and let them decide And let them see if there is 1.6 billion barrels of oil Underneath that oil field And let us take that Because we do realise that we're going to be stuck With that type of energy for the next decade Taoiseach, to respond please Thank you Deputy for your commentary And I'm consistent here I believe we should examine The issue of the potential nuclear power Given the changing technologies And how technology has advanced But I think our first priority right now The here and now Is renewables, both wind and solar And also anaerobic digestion And we've made a lot of progress on all those fronts Solar in particular laterally And industry in particular has adopted solar Be it rooftop or in farms adjacent to major factories And it's been a very successful outcome To accelerate EU proposals for greater EU level coordination I think the EU grids package is key And that means connecting up to Europe more and more And Europe developing strong grid connection To give Europe energy security and energy independence Because the biggest negative impact on Europe Is this energy question We've had now numerous crises Going back over five decades We need to make sure that the next five decades Are not similar