Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Jun 1995

Vol. 454 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Movement of Nuclear Warheads through the Irish Sea.

Mr. R. Burke

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for affording me the opportunity to raise this very serious matter. It is a coincidence that, as we discuss the movement of these very dangerous warheads, the French have again threatened to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific. I can assure Deputy Dukes that we have notified our French colleagues, the Gaullists, that we will be voting in the European Parliament tomorrow evening condemning that French decision. In regard to the reply given by the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Joan Burton, the position is that the Government abjectly followed the nuclear lobby without making any attempt to impose conditions on their decision in relation to the renewal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

To come to the business on hand, will the Minister of State say whether the Irish Government received any notification from the British Ministry of Defence of the movement of these six warheads? Since I brought the matter to the attention of his Department by way of Private Notice Question last week, has his Department made any attempt to ascertain the future policy of the British Ministry of Defence on the movement of these warheads? Has there been any contact with them?

This has very serious long term implications for our people. These warheads have previously been moved by land from Aldermaston to the Clyde but on this occasion, for the first time, the Trident warheads were moved by ship, on the Kinterberry, which departed Portsmouth on 4 or 5 June and unloaded at Coalport on the Clyde on 7 June. It is known that the Trident warhead is a very unstable weapon. The prospect of its moving through the Irish Sea on a British Navy auxiliary ship on a regular basis is too horrendous to contemplate.

The Government must lodge a very strong protest with the British Government in relation to the movement of these weapons on 5 and 6 June. It must make it abundantly clear to the British that we are not prepared to accept the movement of these types of warheads through the Irish Sea, with the threat they pose to our people.

Minister of State at the Department of the Marine (Mr. Gilmore)

I thank Deputy Ray Burke for having raised this matter. I fully share his concern on the movement of nuclear warheads through the Irish Sea. I understand that no Irish Department of State received notification from the British Government on such a movement from Portsmouth to the Clyde on 6 and 7 June 1995 on a British Navy auxiliary ship, nor was the Irish marine emergency service, which comes under the aegis of my Department, notified.

The United Kingdom authorities have been notified that recent reports on the movement of nuclear warheads by the military through the Irish Sea are a matter of serious public concern in Ireland, that such movements present difficulties on a number of fronts and that the Irish Government will be pursuing the matter further. The initial response from the United Kingdom authorities is that they no longer deploy nuclear weapons on board Her Majesty's ships but that such weapons may be transported by sea. Furthermore, they state that shipments do not take place outside United Kingdom territorial waters, that safety is of paramount importance whenever nuclear weapons are involved and that it is long-standing policy of the United Kingdom Government neither to confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at particular times and locations.

Mr. R. Burke

But they were there.

Mr. Gilmore

I am alarmed at reports of the movement of nuclear warheads through the Irish Sea. My concerns are threefold. The transport of such materials through the Irish Sea, a narrow semi-enclosed sea with densely populated areas in its environs, poses a threat to the safety of people living in these areas and to the marine environment generally. The extent and nature of the risks posed by such transport demand advance notification of the transition of ships carrying nuclear warheads or other hazardous materials so that "early warning" systems can be put in place to deal with possible marine emergencies in the event of an accident or collision. The increasing traffic in the Irish Sea shipping lane is also a concern because of the increased possibility of accidents.

I am pursuing a policy aimed at making the Irish Sea a nuclear free sea. The following are the steps I am taking in pursuance of this policy. In keeping with the objective to ensure the highest standards of safety of life at sea, safety of navigation and protection of the marine environment, the Department of the Marine has been participating actively in ongoing discussions on these topics at international level. Concerns of small island developing states and other coastal states worldwide with regard to the transportation of nuclear materials between Japan and the UK and France led to the adoption in 1993 of the International Maritime Organisation Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Flasks on Board Ships, the INF code, as it is called. This code regulates the construction, equipping and operation of ships engaged in the carriage of such substances.

We have consistently argued that the following additional complementary measures must be incorporated in the code: decisive route planning and notification and consultation with all coastal states while in transit; the restriction and exclusion of certain routes; an emergency response plan in the voyage plan in respect of the ship and cargo; and a compulsory requirement to salvage radioactive material and predetermination of responsibility for this in the voyage plan.

Our efforts in this respect, for which we have support from other small coastal states, will continue. The subject is on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Marine Environmental Protection Committee, a sub-committee of the International Maritime Organisation.

We are also pushing to have the INF code incorporated into two EU directives dealing with reporting arrangements for ships visiting Community ports or transiting Community waters. This would at least ensure that all types of radioactive or nuclear materials being carried on ships would have to be notified in advance and would allow for "early warning" systems to be put in place.

More recently, the Department of the Marine participated in International Maritime Organisation discussions on the introduction of mandatory reporting and ships' routing systems for vessels carrying hazardous cargoes. The former will come into force internationally on 1 January 1996; the latter on 1 January 1997. Under the ships' routing provisions, special routes could be prescribed for ships carrying INF code fuels or "areas to be avoided" by such ships could be created. At present, such systems are only recommended. States wishing to declare a routing system will have to be in full compliance with guidelines, criteria and regulations to be drawn up by the International Maritime Organisation and have their proposals formally adopted by that organisation. It is my intention to seek a mandatory routing system which would exclude the transport of nuclear materials through the Irish Sea.

Warships, naval auxiliaries or other ships owned and operated by a state and used solely on that state's non-commercial service are normally exempt from international conventions regulating marine transport, maritime safety and protection of the marine environment. However, contracting states to those conventions are asked to ensure that exempted ships act in a manner consistent, as far as is reasonable and practicable, with the international conventions. Warships are to be encouraged to participate in ships' routing systems adopted in accordance with International Maritime Organisation procedures.

Under existing international law, warships have a right of innocent passage without notification through the territorial waters of any state. Entry of foreign warships into Irish ports is a matter for the Minister for Foreign Affairs. As the Deputy knows it is Government policy to refuse entry if the vessel is carrying nuclear weapons or the visit is part of a naval exercise.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.50 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 15 June 1995.