We now come to deal with a number of Private Notice Questions appertaining to the same subject matter, the dumping of bombs and other warlike materials in the Irish Sea. I will be calling the Deputies in the order in which they submitted their questions to my office. There are three Deputies involved and I now call on Deputy Roche to put his question.
Private Notice Questions: - UK Designated Military Danger Area.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that United Kingdom aviation authorities have given permission to the US Air Force to jettison bombs, munitions and other material in the Irish Sea in a designated area between North Devon and Swansea; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to (a) an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, in relation to allowing giant UK based American B-52 Bombers to dump their 500 lb. bombs in the sea off the west coast of England in an emergency and (b) the dangers such action may have on the south-east of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
asked the Taoiseach — not the Minister for Foreign Affairs to whom it has been transferred — if his attention has been drawn to a media report (details supplied) in the Evening Press which claims that a United States B-52 aircraft recently blew up 15 miles off the Galway coast discharging its cargo of nerve gas into the atmosphere; whether any such incident took place; if it did, the reasons the incident was not publicly disclosed; the steps which have been taken to deal with any dangerous cargo on board; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take the questions tabled by Deputies Roche and D'Arcy together and I will deal separately with Deputy De Rossa's question.
The questions in the names of Deputy Roche and Deputy D'Arcy will be taken together.
I have seen reports on the agreement to which the Deputies refer and the text of a statement on the matter in the British House of Commons yesterday in which it was stated that the area concerned is a permanently designated military danger area covering an air gunnery range used daily by the RAF for activities including live firing. Airmen and mariners have, I understand, been notified of the establishment of the area.
The reported agreement is to provide for the contingency of returning aircraft anticipating difficulties in landing. It is, I understand, normal procedure in such circumstances to jettison cargo, which in these cases could include bombs, which might make landing more hazardous.
The area designated lies within the Bristol Channel. On the basis of the information available to me, I do not consider that the agreement involves any direct danger to Ireland or to Irish interests.
I thank the Minister for his reply and I am sure that my constituents can take some solace from it. Is the Minister aware that one such incident already occurred on Saturday week last, and this may be the issue to which Deputy De Rossa referred, when a B-52 taking off from Fairford flew west over the Welsh coast for 18 to 20 minutes, developed an electrical fault and then had to journey back to Fairford to land with a full complement of 32 tonnes of bombs? This has not been denied by the station's commanding officer. More specifically, does the Minister share my disquiet at the answer given yesterday in the House of Commons by the United Kingdom Armed Forces Minister, Mr. Archie Hamilton, when he seemed to ignore yet again Irish sensitivities and interest in the matter? Will the Minister ask the United Kingdom authorities to review the location of the designated area, if they will consult the Irish authorities about designating a new area and put in place some system of notification so that we will know exactly what has been jettisoned? I am sure the Minister is aware that the Irish Sea is relatively enclosed and has long since been used by the British——
I must ask for brevity. The Deputy is tending towards speech making.
Any dumping of live material into it could pose a danger to the east coast of Ireland.
I can assure the Deputy that I will give the further points made by him every consideration. In answer to the point made by him that live bombs could be dumped into the Bristol Channel, I understand that the Minister of State for the Armed Services, Mr. Archie Hamilton, made it very clear yesterday in the House of Commons that any bombs jettisoned would not be armed.
That is what he said but, as we are all aware, a B-52 bomber exploded 15 miles off the coast of Galway as reported in the Evening Press. That report will have to be checked. Having regard to the fact that the designated area is located six to eight miles off Swansea, a plane flying off the Galway coast would have to cut across a corner of Wexford and may not be able to reach the designated area. Could the Minister envisage a situation when they would have to discharge their cargo over a part of Wexford?
As I said in reply to Deputy Roche, I will give the additional points raised by Deputy D'Arcy every consideration.
That is not good enough.
With regard to the first part of the Deputy's question relating to reports carried in the Evening Press, I will deal with that matter when I come to reply to Deputy De Rossa's question in a few minutes.
Is the Minister prepared to have consultations with the British authorities on the air routes used by the B-52 bombers and report back to the House?
I will have the matter examined.
Can we have a reply to Deputy De Rossa's question or does the Deputy wish to intevene in these two questions?
I would like to ask a question on this issue.
Shall we have the reply now?
In relation to the Minister's replies to the first two questioners, I am intrigued by his comment that any bombs ditched will not be armed. Would he explain what he means by this? I take it that bombs are bombs and will go off, at some time or other. Does he mean that they will not be ready to go off at that time? Will any effort be made to recover them? It seems to be totally unsatisfactory.
We are having overlapping. Let us have the reply to the Deputy's formal question, No. 3.
To be fair, the question of whether bombs are armed is an important one for this country.
I submit that it is related to the Deputy's question.
I do not think it is.
In answer to the Deputy's Private Notice Question I have been told that the services responsible for air navigation and marine rescue have not been able to confirm the report on which the question is based.
Again, I am intrigued by the Minister's reply. The report seems to be categoric. The reason I raise this matter is to give the Minister an opportunity to assure the public that it is not true but he is now telling me that he is not in a position to tell the House that it is not true.
I have not said that at all. What I said was that we have not been able to confirm the report. The Department of Defence have said that they have no information on the reported incident while the Department of Tourism, Transport and Communications, and the Department of the Marine, as far as the national rescue and co-ordination centre at Shannon is concerned say there is no basis to the report. I admire the Deputy's support for the Evening Press.
A final question from Deputy De Rossa.
I am aware that the Minister is tired at this stage——
I am not.
——and may fall into a less grave pose than normal but can we treat this matter a bit more seriously? There is a serious report in a major national newspaper which indicates quite categorically that, as far as they are concerned, an incident of some importance occurred some weeks ago in this area. I would like the Minister to indicate whether or not an explosion occurred and give us an explanation for it.
I can tell the Deputy that the agencies who have responsibility for confirming that such an incident occurred have made it very clear that they have no information on this incident and cannot confirm whether it occurred.
A final question, Deputy. We must have finality on this matter.
Would the Minister put it, in plain English, to the House that he is satisfied that no such incident occurred?
I am satisfied, beyond all reasonable doubt from the information at my disposal, that no such incident occurred.
That disposes of questions for today.