Press Release: Environment   26 April 2006

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Dún Laoghaire, Environment, Justice and Latest Press Releases

26 April 2006

Green Party commemorates 20th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster

The Green Party marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster today by placing windmills on the strand adjacent to the Pigeon House Chimneys of the Poolbeg Generating Station.The event marked the need to change to renewable energy to ensure a disaster like Chernobyl is never allowed to happen in Ireland. The windmills also mark the East Coast as the first area which would be affected should a nuclear disaster ever happen in Sellafield.

Speaking at the event Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD said that,

“Today is a day to recognise and applaud the efforts of Adi Roche and Chernobyl Children’s Aid; the Chernobyl Orphanage Development Programme and other charities working to assist the victims of Chernobyl.

Many of the victims of Chernobyl are now dead but many have not been born either and the damage this disaster caused will go on for untold generations.

“An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is stuck in the headlights of rising oil prices. He must now ensure that the Irish Government promotes and develops renewable energy sources as well as means to avoid energy wastage so that Ireland can move away from its dependency on oil and other fossil fuels. That means investing in biomass crops that produce ethanol, wind turbines that generate electricity, bio-gas plants that produce energy from animal waste and wood pellet plants that can fuel home heating systems. The technological solutions are there, what we now need is the political will to implement them.”

Green Party Environment Spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said that, “Nuclear power is still intrinsically dangerous. The problems of storing nuclear waste and the threats of accidents or terrorism will haunt us for generations to come. On the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl blast it is time for the Irish Government to give stronger support to renewable energy.

“As we commemorate the thousands of people whose lives were cut short by the events at Chernobyl it is also time for the Irish Government to withdraw their funding and support for the Euratom Treaty which promotes the development of nuclear energy.”

Green Party Energy spokesperson Eamon Ryan TD said that, “The recent Forfás report argued for nuclear power as a solution to our energy crisis. The Government says they are excluding it but they are doing nothing to promote the renewable alternative.

“Three hundred of the wind turbines already located off the Arklow coast can provide the same power as a conventional nuclear plant. However, our Government has a woeful record in developing this untapped potential. We should be world leaders in developing alternative renewable resources which would provide the clearest signal that nuclear power is not the answer.

“Our Government now needs to go further than their legal challenge to the Sellafield plant and make a formal submission to the UK Government’s energy review process that we do not want them to start commissioning new nuclear plants.”