Union chief calls for nuclear debate

THE public needs to rethink its opposition to nuclear power if the country is to maintain the living standards of the past 13 years, the country’s most senior union official said last night.

David Begg, head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, wants an open public debate about nuclear energy after the Government explicitly ruled out the power source earlier this year.

In a speech to a Dublin environmental conference headlined by former US vice-president Al Gore, Mr Begg is to argue that Ireland’s economic growth of the past 13 years cannot be maintained if nuclear power is ruled out.