Some people are just ahead of their time. In State Papers released under the 30 year rule, this nugget from Seán McBride:

Nobel Peace Prize winner Seán MacBride wrote to the Taoiseach in April 1978, expressing concern about the nuclear plant plans and urging an examination of alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, tidal and wave power.

He pointed to a plan that had been discussed decades earlier, involving the conversion of Clew Bay into a reservoir for the production of electricity. “Seventy years ago such a scheme might well have been uneconomical and regarded as impractical, but would it be so in the circumstances of today?”

The Irish Times also reports on the controversy surrounding the proposed nuclear plant at Carnsore, Co Wexford. The Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, to his credit, foresaw contracting oil supplies by the turn of the century.

Full report at the Irish Times.

Happy 2009, everyone.