{"id":431441,"date":"2026-05-04T08:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431441\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T08:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:12:08","slug":"ireland-should-examine-seriously-nuclear-power-option-says-taoiseach-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431441\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland should \u2018examine seriously\u2019 nuclear power option, says Taoiseach \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland should seriously examine the idea of developing nuclear power as one way to reduce its future dependence on fossil fuels, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> has said. <\/p>\n

The immediate focus of the Government was to speed up the development of offshore wind farms, to further boost the Republic\u2019s supply of renewable energy sources, the Taoiseach said. <\/p>\n

The energy crisis<\/a> set off by the war in Iran<\/a> and closure of key supply routes for oil and gas coming from the Gulf has put pressure on governments across the world as the price of fuel soars. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Monday, Martin said the Government should explore \u201call avenues\u201d, including the development of nuclear-fuelled energy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly should look and examine seriously options like nuclear power, simply examine the advances in technology that have occurred,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il TD James O\u2019Connor recently tabled legislation that would end a ban on developing nuclear power in the State, and that will be debated by the D\u00e1il in the coming months. <\/p>\n

Advances in nuclear technology, in particular around the development of small modular reactors, have lowered what was previously a very high bar required to build nuclear power plants on the time and cost front. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve witnessed over the last 50 years periodic moments of volatility and energy insecurity because of our over-reliance on imported fossil fuels,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n

The Republic had already made \u201csignificant progress\u201d rolling out onshore wind production and solar power, he said. \u201cThe next big play for us is offshore wind and [a] significant amount of work has been put into that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo Ireland in the early 2030s will be in a strong position in terms of offshore wind combined with onshore wind, with solar,\u201d the Fianna F\u00e1il leader said. <\/p>\n

Martin was speaking in Yerevan, Armenia, where he was attending a summit of more than 40 European leaders. <\/p>\n

Fossil fuels had done \u201cextremely serious damage\u201d to the planet, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, fossil fuel has been the worst type of fuel in terms of its impact on people\u2019s health and in terms of its impact on the environment and on climate, so we should look at alternatives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Martin said there had been \u201ctentative moves in the right direction\u201d in ongoing talks between the United States and Iran, to end Tehran\u2019s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas is shipped. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would urge all parties to engage more intensively in dialogue to bring about a permanent cessation to hostilities,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The Government will take steps in the next budget to \u201calleviate the pressure on families and on workers\u201d from steep rises in fuel and energy costs, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe precise means by which we do that will very much be decided upon in the lead up to the budget,\u201d which will be announced in October, he said. Any decisions taken had to also be fiscally sustainable, he added. <\/p>\n

Aspects of budget negotiations will be brought forward this year, he said. <\/p>\n

This was due to the fact the Government will at the same time be steering EU-level negotiations for the second half of this year, when it holds the rotating Council of the EU presidency. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s [a] budget that will focus on pressures that people are undoubtedly feeling because of all of the shocks over the last five to six years, exacerbated now by this war in the Middle East,\u201d the Taoiseach said.<\/p>\n

Martin also defended plans to stop providing accommodation housing supports to Ukrainian refugees who fled to Ireland following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one anticipated the war would go on for five years, but we will work with the Ukrainian community in Ireland in terms of the change of direction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ending the practice of housing Ukrainians in hotels paid for by the State would be done on a \u201cgradual\u201d basis. \u201cThe original approach was a very much emergency response,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The Ukrainian government had a need for people to return to help restore its economy, which was a factor Martin said had been \u201coverlooked\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland should seriously examine the idea of developing nuclear power as one way to reduce its future dependence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37635,61,60,1843,43],"class_list":["post-431441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-energy-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}