In yesterday's Irish Independent newspaper, a headline read Ireland should seriously look at the option of nuclear power, says the Taoiseach. He said in Yerevan, and I quote the Taoiseach directly, "we certainly should look at and examine options like nuclear power seriously." I asked the Taoiseach the exact same question in the Chamber two weeks ago. His answer was that "the direction of travel has to be in the renewables area". He dismissed the Barryroe oil field. He defended the 2021 ban on oil and gas exploration. He cited the enormous costs on nuclear energy - that is the record - as a reason for caution. That position is on the record of this House in response to my question. Which is it? Is it the answer that the Taoiseach gave this Chamber two weeks ago or the answer that he gave the cameras in Armenia? The contradiction continues. The Minister for Finance and Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, says that nuclear energy should be considered with an open mind. The Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, has said that there is an argument for nuclear energy, that the argument is decades old and that we are now living in a different world. Billy Kelleher MEP, the President that would be, says that he would back a motion to overturn the 1999 ban at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis later this month. The Taoiseach's Ministers, MEPs and backbenchers are all moving in one direction, yet the 1999 ban remains law, the 2021 oil and gas exploration ban remains law and the Government has not introduced legislation to lift the nuclear prohibitions and does not have plans to reverse the exploration ban. I made the point to the Taoiseach in this Chamber two weeks ago - it is on the record of the House that he did not deny it - that Ireland bans nuclear energy at home while it imports nuclear-generated energy directly from France through the Celtic interconnector. That is not climate leadership but policy contradiction, which is sitting unanswered on the 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 - and 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 dressed it up as Government policy. Will the Taoiseach today in this House, on the record, commit to bringing forward Government legislation to lift the 1999 nuclear ban? Will he reverse the 2021 gas and oil exploration ban to allow Barryroe to be excavated? Will Irish families continue to pay the highest prices in Europe? Will the Taoiseach save his real answers for foreign summits?

Sentiment score: -0.03

So has the Taoiseach.

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I thank the Taoiseach. What he has done in this Chamber is exactly what he did in Armenia, namely he said a great deal while committing to nothing. Within the past hour, the Taoiseach has twice referenced renewables and connecting to Spain. It is worth putting this on the record of the House because people hold up Spain as the great renewable energy country. Renewable energy in Spain is at 21% while its nuclear energy is at 20%. If we connect to Spain, which is the Taoiseach's plan, we will take nuclear energy from it. We have to admit there is a policy deficit here. We are looking at taking nuclear energy from a foreign body but there is a ban in the Government's legislation on such energy. We have spoken about Barryroe. We have been back and forth on it. Deputy Collins has been brilliant in speaking about Barryroe. Lift the ban, let them drill and let them decide. Let them see if there are 1.6 billion barrels of oil in that oil field. Let us take that because we realise we will be stuck with that type of energy for the next decade.

Sentiment score: 0.14