Garrett Greene

🇮🇪 Next week, we're hosting a meeting on the need to protect Irish neutrality. It takes place on Wednesday, 3rd June, at 7.30pm in the Palmerstown Community Council building on Manor Road. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made clear their intentions to dismantle the Triple Lock in their bid to push Ireland closer to NATO. If they succeed, Irishmen and Irishwomen will find themselves fighting and dying abroad to serve the interests of Washington and Brussels. Working people must stand firmly against that. Speakers at the meeting include Gerry Rooney, former General Secretary of the Permanent Defence Forces Representative Association, as well as Padraig Mannion, Chairperson of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance. Bígí linn! @DavidGardinerWP

⚛️ 🏭 This evening, we held a meeting in Belfast on nuclear power. Our Garrett Greene and Brian Molloy from @18for0 made up the panel, which was chaired by Ard Comhairle member Padraig Mannion; discussing energy security, affordability, and the future role that different energy sources must play. 🔗 Find out more on our pro-nuclear energy policy, entitled "Let's Get Real: A Plan For Nuclear Power In Ireland," at workersparty.ie/nuclear-power-…

⚛️ 🏭 Even if we shut down every data centre in the country, to decarbonise the economy we need to double, if not triple, electricity generation over the next 25 years. If we want decarbonisation to have popular support, electricity needs to be cheap and reliable. Nuclear power is the best and possibly the only option that can achieve that, argues our Garrett Greene. aontachtmedia.ie/why-the-left-s…

@workersparty @18for0 @NuclearIreland

I wrote an article for aontacht about why the left should love nuclear power.

The announcement of a bill to repeal the nuclear ban should be celebrated on the environmentalist left. But despite this possibility, the majority of the Irish socialist left have already lined themselves up in opposition, writes Garrett Greene. aontachtmedia.ie/why-the-left-s…

⚛️🏭 We're hosting a public meeting on the need for nuclear power in Ireland on Tuesday, 19th May, at 7pm in the Connolly Centre on the Falls Road. The discussion will explore our pro-nuclear energy policy, as well as energy security, affordability, environmental impact, climate targets, and the future role that different energy sources must play. Bígí linn!

@Irishgeezah Regarding Levelised Cost of Energy, it excludes the critical costs of renewables, ie unreliability and associated storage and network costs. Look at actual energy prices across Europe and you'll see that nuclear is demonstrably cheaper.

@Irishgeezah On the contrary, nuclear has been unpopular with neoliberal governments precisely because it requires state investment and can't be leff to market providers. The move back to nuclear is a result of the total failure of renewables to reduce carbon emissions.

There a bizarre tendency on the Irish left to dislike nuclear power because it's seen as "right wing". Nevermind that nuclear power is proven to provide cheap, reliable, state-owned, zero carbon energy, while renewables have failed to make a dent in actual carbon emissions.

A new law to reverse the ban on nuclear energy in Ireland will be introduced to the Dáil by Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor, the Business Post has learned. businesspost.ie/api/oc-post/?u…

Big moment — @JamesOConnorTD has introduced a bill to reverse Ireland's ban on nuclear energy. The path to nuclear energy has been set out in the IAEA milestone approach. We just need to take the first step. Let's make Ireland's energy supply cheaper, cleaner and more secure 🇮🇪

@PBresnihan My point is that nuclear energy is, by every objective technical metric, a better solution for decarbonisation. Most left critics won't say why they oppose it, except that stopped clocks like Dan O'Brien seem to like it.

@GreeneOctober Not sure where to start with that Garret. Dan's comment was that nuclear 'would make energy/climate worries a thing of the past'. Maybe you share that wishful thinking? It isn't scientific and it isn't progressive.

@PBresnihan I genuinely don't understand why you would prefer a totally unproven, incredibly complex and resource intensive decentralised solution over one that's proven, uses orders of magnitude fewer resources and lends itself naturally to state ownership.

Publicly owned, decentralised wind and solar energy; retrofitting coops and social enterprises providing good jobs and warmer homes; electrified, low cost public transport. We need to ask why supposed 'experts' turn to nuclear and LNG whenever the energy transition is raised.

🏭 ⚛️ The Workers’ Party welcomes the news that the Dáil is set to debate reversing the ban on nuclear energy. It is a safe, reliable, cheap, and efficient way to provide energy for working people and industry, and offers an alternative to sky-high energy costs and the climate crisis. The ongoing crisis makes it clear that the current approach; of reducing energy demand in the name of decarbonisation by making it unaffordable, is not a runner for working people. If the government does not consider technologies like nuclear energy that could provide a clean and reliable energy supply, working people will continue to be subjected to energy austerity while companies continue to profit. It is our view that in order to be positively effective from the standpoint of working people, this process must be state-led. Nuclear energy is the safest large-scale energy technology, and the evidence shows that it is responsible for fewer deaths than even wind power. As it is significantly more predictable and reliable than any other low-carbon technology available, nuclear energy can be scaled up to meet increasing electricity demand, meaning that we can grow our energy supply while simultaneously eliminating carbon emissions and allowing for the development of an industrial economy. Furthermore, nuclear energy has the smallest ecological footprint of any energy source, helping to mitigate environmental harm and tackle the growing biodiversity crisis. 🔗 Our nuclear energy policy paper, launched back in 2023 and entitled "Let's Get Real: A Plan For Nuclear Power In Ireland", can be read at the link in the post below.

Great news. The ban on nuclear energy is utterly irrational and harms all Irish workers. The only countries in Europe to have made any progress in reducing carbon emissions and keeping energy prices affordable for workers are those that build state-owned nuclear power.

The completely renewable power grid doesn't exist anywhere, and it's not going to exist in the next 15 years. Meanwhile nuclear exists, is proven, and countries that build it have the cheapest and most reliable energy.

🗳 Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the so-called independents have survived a vote of confidence this evening despite the ongoing fuel crisis. The day did not pass without some losses for the government; having lost the support of Michael Healy-Rae in the process. The package that the government has come up with lacks teeth; offering up temporary half-measures that will see workers continue to struggle when they go to pay at the pumps or heat their homes. Things were far from rosy with regards to the cost-of-living before this latest crisis emerged, and any benefit from this package will soon dissipate as the cost-of-living continues to rise. Increases to the carbon tax, for example, have only been temporarily delayed. These recent increases are, of course, the result of U.S. imperialist aggression on Iran. While this conflict isn’t directly the fault of the Irish government, it is their responsibility to secure the energy independence and security of this state. Only publicly-owned energy infrastructure can reduce prices for working people and secure Ireland's future. Ireland must break its dependence on the fossil fuel markets that imperialist wars are repeatedly destabilizing. That requires investment in public transport, a genuine right to remote working enshrined in law, and a serious conversation about all low-carbon generation options, such as nuclear power. This measly package had to be pried from the hands of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, only coming after widespread protest. Even after everything that took place over the last week, the government offers pocket change back to the working class.

Say no to sportswashing genocide. #StopTheGame

✊🏻🚩🇮🇪 At the weekend, Workers' Party members held a stall on Dublin's O'Connell Street to discuss sky-high fuel costs. ⛽️ The crisis is a result of U.S. attacks on Iran. Although Ireland didn't start that war, working people here are still paying the price at the pumps and in heating their homes thanks to the shambolic set-up that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have built. ✅️ Ireland needs a sovereign and publicly-owned energy system to provide fuel at prices that workers can afford.