Ireland will be left short of energy supplies because of international shortages and supply problems unless urgent action is taken, an Oireachtas inquiry has found.
The investigation was carried out by the Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Oireachtas Committee headed by Cork North Central TD Noel O'Flynn.
It recommended that a public debate on nuclear power, with no option ruled out, should be held, saying that the State will end up using nuclear-generated electricity imported from the UK and elsewhere.
Calling for such a debate, Green Party TD Eamon Ryan said: "It isn't good enough for the Taoiseach to say that we will not have a nuclear power station because the public doesn't want it."
The report, which was drawn up after 18 days of public hearings, said: "Due to geography Ireland is at the end of a long supply chain which is liable to disruption."
Ninety per cent of the State's energy needs are supplied by gas and oil yet it holds just two days of emergency supplies of gas and three months of oil.
Depleted gas wells in the Kinsale fields should be used to store emergency gas supplies "as a matter of urgency", the committee recommended. The Corrib gasfield "must be brought on-stream without delay", though that must address "the safety concerns of local residents".
However, the committee did not agree on whether the future ownership of the ESB's high-voltage lines and low-voltage network of electricity poles should rest with the ESB, or with the transmission network, Eirgrid. The committee agreed, however, that they should remain in public ownership.
The Government, which intends to have 13.2 per cent of electricity generated from renewable sources by 2010, should set more ambitious targets in line with the EU's 21 per cent target by that date.
The ESB should convert its existing peat-fired stations in the midlands to burn willow and other bio-mass fuels by 2020, which would give Bord Na Móna time to prepare supplies.
However, the committee warned that the public should not invest all its hopes in bio-fuels. Every motorist in the State would consume two acres of rapeseed if they converted from petrol or diesel engines to bio-fuels.
