Nuclear energy and Ireland

Sir, – Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan is to be congratulated on being an integral part of the negotiations at Cop28 that has led to the agreement endorsed by most countries. I look forward to him now focusing on “accelerating zero- and low-emission technologies, including ... nuclear” (“What the Cop28 agreement says and what it means”, News, December 13th).

There may be practical reasons not to build a nuclear power plant in Ireland, but as Brian Marten (Letters, December 14th) points out, electricity generated by nuclear power will be part of our energy mix through interconnectors to Britain and France.

Surely it is time the Minister’s department made a thorough assessment of whether this low-emission technology, on which we Europeans will continue to occasionally depend, should be sited here as well as the wind and solar installations we have planned? – Yours, etc,

CRAIG MESKELL,