{"id":442084,"date":"2026-04-18T19:08:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/442084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:08:27","slug":"martin-shoots-down-oil-and-nuclear-despite-import-reliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/442084\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin shoots down oil and nuclear despite import reliance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has shot down the idea of revisiting oil exploration or pursuing nuclear power, stating that the country\u2019s energy future will be \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d based on renewables despite continued reliance on imports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking during Leader\u2019s Questions in the D\u00e1il today, the Fianna F\u00e1il Taoiseach acknowledged Ireland\u2019s dependence on imported fuels but rejected calls to reverse the 2021 ban on oil and gas exploration or to reconsider the State\u2019s position on nuclear energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland will continue to produce its own energy but it will be in renewables overwhelmingly,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a very poor record in terms of oil and gas exploration over the decades frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also dismissed the potential of the Barryroe oil field, arguing that it had not demonstrated viable prospects in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarryroe never showed any prospects, and Barryroe could have been exploited if it had the prospects that you are saying it had decades before any legislative prohibition on oil and gas discovery into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exchange followed questions from Independent Ireland TD Ken O\u2019Flynn, who raised Ireland\u2019s level of energy imports and the decision to prohibit domestic exploration.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Flynn said Ireland imports a significant majority of its energy and questioned whether current policy leaves the State exposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland now imports approximately 86% of its energy, one of the highest dependence rates in Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, your government made a deliberate decision back in 2021 to ban oil and gas exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to the Barryroe field off the Cork coast, citing assessments of its potential scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know this country is sitting on a potential offshore resource, including the Barryroe field off Cork\u2026 which independent assessments suggest could contain up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably about 157 billion euros of oil there Taoiseach.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Flynn also questioned the consistency of Ireland\u2019s approach to nuclear energy, noting that electricity generated from nuclear power abroad is imported through interconnection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland bans nuclear generated energy at home and yet through the Celtic Interconnector we import the same nuclear energy directly from France,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s not climate leadership Taoiseach\u2026 I would say that that is a policy contradiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

He asked whether the Government would reverse the exploration ban or review legislation restricting nuclear energy, and argued that Ireland\u2019s current position limits its options compared to other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe simple question to you Taoiseach is will Ireland produce some of its own energy, or will we continue to import energy that is coming at a market price?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In response, Martin said Ireland\u2019s strategy would focus on renewables and increased interconnection with European partners, including planned links with France and potential connections with Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are overly dependent on imported fossil fuels, I accept that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think we need to connect, there needs to be strong grid connection with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also ruled out a move towards nuclear energy, citing the scale of investment required and the Government\u2019s focus on upgrading the national grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of nuclear, again the investment in nuclear is enormous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re putting about \u20ac18 billion into the grid over the next five years investment to both absorb additional demand and also to further integrate renewables into the grid expertly, which we do very well as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said renewable sources such as solar energy had expanded in recent years, including uptake by major companies operating in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see solar as a very significant growth area and solar over the last two to three years has grown exponentially,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of companies are using solar, which is reducing their dependence on imported fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland currently imports the majority of its energy, with recent estimates placing dependence at around 80% \u2013 among the highest in the European Union.<\/p>\n

Government policy has centred on expanding renewable generation, particularly wind and solar, alongside increasing interconnection with neighbouring energy markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has shot down the idea of revisiting oil exploration or pursuing nuclear power, stating that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[269],"tags":[63102,18,440,19,17,5765,9951,133],"class_list":["post-442084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-barryroe","tag-eire","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-oil","tag-science"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116427286521778957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}