Green Party Environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said: "Tony Blair's decision to back a new phase of nuclear power plants is irrational, illogical, inconsistent with the stated aims of achieving energy security, and of major concern to Ireland. If the UK invests in a new generation of nuclear power plants – all likely to send their waste to Sellafield for reprocessing – Tony Blair's valedictory will involve Ireland, but not in the way that he would like it. He will go down in history as the man who forced Ireland into a 10,000 year marriage to a sarcophagus of radioactive waste.

"It is clearly apparent that vested interests are driving Blair's energy policy, rather than rational analysis or a desire to properly tackle climate change. As Greenpeace has said: 'reaching for nuclear power to fight climate change is like a couch potato taking up smoking to lose weight. It doesn't deal with the problem, wastes money better spent elsewhere and brings huge problems of its own.'

"The Green Party is extremely concerned about the dangers of an expansion of nuclear power in the UK, but at least there is a debate – however flawed – on its merits and consequences. Fianna Fail lacks both the courage and vision to face up to the new realities that Ireland is also facing into. Ireland's Kyoto and EU emissions commitments should have already forced us into a major rethink on energy production and consumption, yet for ten years the outgoing government has dodged the issue and buried its head in the sand.

"In terms of electricity generation, it is clear that Ireland needs an alternative to imported fossil fuels. But that alternative is not nuclear. Fianna Fáil has been too cowardly to even raise the debate. The Green Party believes that our demand for electricity can be met by wind, wave and tidal power. When these industries are fully developed, experts predict that we will be able to export surplus power. The government has neglected the renewable sector and consequently forced innovative companies like Airtricity to switch their focus into markets outside Ireland. This is our loss, both figuratively and financially. The direct cost of Fianna Fáil's inaction on emissions is a bill to the taxpayer of €270m to purchase overseas carbon credits. How many Green jobs could have been created with a more imaginative and visionery government in change of energy policy?"

The Green Party's candidate for Louth Cllr Mark Dearey has a long record in campaigning against nuclear reprocessing on the Cumbrian coast, opposite County Louth, and is involved in a court action against Sellafield that has been to the Supreme Court twice.

He said: "The UK has not answered questions about what it will do with the current stockpiles of radioactive waste it has, let alone future quantities of waste – a point also made recently by the International Energy Agency. On the grounds of the waste issue alone, it is utterly irresponsible for the British government to consider an expansion of nuclear. New nuclear power plants in the UK will mean more business for Sellafield.