MINISTER FOR Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan has accepted that some of the energy being imported into Ireland across interconnectors from Britain and France may be nuclear power.
However, the Department of Energy last night said that the actual amount of nuclear energy being imported was so tiny that it is impossible to measure.
Only 1 per cent of Ireland's electricity is imported at present. It comes through an interconnector that passes through Northern Ireland and into Britain and continental Europe. However, it is estimated that the percentage of imported electricity supply will increase in future.
Of the 1 per cent imported, the department estimates that the actual amount of nuclear energy comprises less than 0.1 per cent.
Mr Ryan's spokeswoman said that the imported electricity came from Britain and France, through Ireland's interconnection to Britain and, in turn, by the interconnector between Britain itself and France.
"A tiny percentage of that 1 per cent comes from nuclear power. There is no nuclear power in Northern Ireland so the amount is further diluted there before it reaches us," the spokeswoman said.
Mr Ryan told the Dáil last week that the ban on nuclear power generation in Ireland did not extend to imported nuclear energy.
In response to a question by Labour TD Willie Penrose, Mr Ryan said such a prohibition would be in breach of Article 28 of the EC treaty, which prohibits restrictions on imports. "I am therefore advised that a prohibition on the importation of electricity generated with the use of nuclear energy would be highly unlikely to have a legal justification, even if it were technically feasible."
Mr Ryan continued: "My advice is that it is not technically possible to guarantee that electricity imported over an interconnector is not generated from nuclear sources, as it is not physically possible to prevent the flow of nuclear-generated electricity on to the network."