A State-led approach to the development and utilisation of nuclear power generation is an essential tool in the fight against climate change and the provision of affordable energy for working people, according to the Workers’ Party. 

At the launch of the party’s new policy document, Let’s Get Real: A Plan For Nuclear Power in Ireland, in Buswells Hotel in Dublin today (Thursday, 15th June), Workers’ Party representative Garrett Greene said: “So long as our government refuses to consider technologies like nuclear energy that could provide a clean and reliable energy supply, working people will continue to be subjected to energy austerity.

“Ireland is already suffering power shortages, which will only worsen as fossil fuels are replaced by unreliable wind and solar power in our electricity grid. The current government’s policy is to reduce energy demand by making electricity unaffordable, rather than provide a cheap and clean supply.”

“The carbon tax, which aims to increase the cost of transport and home heating, targets workers on low and middle incomes, for whom energy bills represent a large proportion of their income. Meanwhile subsidies for electric vehicles and retrofitting homes mostly benefit wealthy property owners. It’s the carrot for the wealthy, and the stick for the working class”.

“If we are serious about tackling climate change and protecting the living standards of ordinary people, then we need to develop an energy supply that is reliable, affordable, and low-carbon. Wind and solar power are low-carbon, but they are inherently unreliable, and in the long run this makes them more expensive too. Nuclear power is the only option available that can do all three”

“The Workers’ Party believes that  constricting energy supply to working people will not only fail to significantly reduce carbon emissions, but it will cause a great deal of unnecessary suffering. Rather than attempt to constrain energy demand, we should instead focus on developing a stable and abundant supply of zero-carbon energy to provide clean, cheap electricity to the Irish people, and power the industrial transformation needed to tackle the climate crisis.”

ENDS

The policy paper can be downloaded from workersparty.ie/nuclear-power-policy