The construction of nuclear power stations should not be excluded given the difficulties Ireland will face in meeting carbon dioxide emission targets, Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg has said.
"Our position is not pro-nuclear but we believe that the nuclear option should not be excluded from a necessary debate on energy security and climate change," said Mr Begg.
The decision not to build a nuclear plant in Carnsore, Co Wexford, 30 years ago was correct, particularly since the safety of nuclear plants was questioned by leaks in Three Mile Island in the US and Chernobyl in Ukraine. However, Mr Begg said "climate change was not then an issue", whereas climate change and the need for states to secure energy supplies in the decades ahead are both serious problems today.
The Government has ruled out nuclear power as an option up to 2020 under the White Paper on Energy Policy, which stresses the need for security of supply, sustainability and competitiveness.
Acknowledging the difficulties involved, Mr Begg said: "We do not believe it is either wise or responsible to take this line without a full exploration of the implications for industrial policy, employment and lifestyle of so doing."
Ireland's energy demands, despite carbon dioxide curbs, are set to increase by a quarter between 2005 and 2013, while world oil demand will jump by a third from 83 million barrels a day to 118 million a day by 2030.
Ireland's dependence on oil - which is the highest in the European Union - leaves the State particularly vulnerable to price increases, and threatens its ability to remain competitive internationally.
Two-thirds of all of Ireland's energy needs are produced by oil, compared with an average of 42 per cent in the rest of the EU, while just 11 per cent comes from gas - compared with 25 per cent in the other member states.
The Government has said that one-third of all electricity will come from renewable sources by 2020, even though it has also predicted that economic growth will remain at 3 per cent or above, and that the population could rise to up to 5½ million by 2026.
"Is it credible, given the implications of biofuel for food security, and planning and technical constraints on wind, that the 33 per cent target can be reached," said Mr Begg.
Ireland's CO2 emissions will be 10 per cent above Kyoto Treaty limits by 2010: "So far we have been dealing with this issue by buying carbon credits, this is not sustainable indefinitely and anyway, the price is likely to rise significantly."
Given that the Government abandoned plans to introduce a carbon tax in 2004, Mr Begg asked if industry is now likely to "acquiesce on measures to achieve a low carbon economy which involve a threat to competitiveness".
Energy can be saved by building better buildings and electrical equipment; by increasing taxes to cut transport emissions; by the use of more public transport; by extending carbon trading to aviation and by cutting motorway lighting.
More controversially, he said Just In Time (JIT) delivery systems could be curbed, while so too could industries that use lots of power, but offer few jobs - even if this would provoke "an outcry from industry".
Rejecting the arguments in favour of building five nuclear plants on the island put forward by former head of the University of Limerick Dr Ed Walsh, Mr Begg said: "This is not our view. Indeed it is a good reason why decisions about nuclear power should not be left to engineers. On the other hand the people at large do have to confront the hard choices involved.
"Can we, if we want to, avoid nuclear power, accept that optimising economic growth may be necessary rather than maximising it as we have been doing for the last 13 years?
"Can we accept the lifestyle choices involved?" he asked.
