The debate over nuclear energy in Ireland will from now on be a lot better informed than it was in the past, when it was "terribly emotional", according to the former leader of the Progressive Democrats and minister for energy during the 1970s, Des O'Malley.
Speaking at the launch of a book on the topic in Dublin last night, Mr O'Malley, who as a Fianna Fáil minister supported plans for a controversial nuclear energy site at Carnsore Point, Co Wexford, also said that he was "right in the context of that time".
"It's not the only thing, you know, where I was right 30 years ago. And it took a while to get the rest of the world to accept that," he said.
However, he noted that during the 1980s, the issue became less important in Ireland due to the availability and low price of oil.
"But we're now in a different situation . . . we're in a situation where oil is a very finite resource and there's only limited quantities of it available and anyway even if it was available, we'll be under constant pressure not to use very much of it. And we have to therefore, whether we like it or not, look seriously at non-fossil fuels - and there isn't a wide selection of those," Mr O'Malley added.
Launching Going Nuclear: Ireland, Britain and the campaign to close Sellafield, by Veronica McDermott, he told those present that "at least we're able to talk about [ the nuclear option] now".
"Thirty years ago, it was a bit like saying in the 1930s and 1940s here that you approved of dancing during Lent."
In her book, the author, who previously spent 10 years providing political and media relations advice to British Nuclear Fuels, traces the nuclear history of Ireland and Britain from the late 1920s to the present day.
The publication of the book coincided with yesterday's 50th anniversary of the Windscale fire, which was Britain's worst nuclear accident.
New research has suggested that the amount of nuclear debris released during the fire was up to twice the volume previously thought.