The House will recall that on 13 November 1997 I advised Deputies of my intention to attend the 20th General Assembly of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to address it on the subject of the Irradiated Nuclear Fuel (INF) Code and to press the assembly to agree that the code, which governs the transport by sea of irradiated nuclear fuels, be adopted as a mandatory binding code by IMO member states. The assembly considered a progress report on the review of the INF code by the various technical bodies of the IMO which had been requested by the previous assembly in a resolution sponsored by Ireland. I am pleased to be able to advise Deputies that agreement has now been reached at the IMO to make the code mandatory and the draft final document has been referred to the Maritime Safety Committee of the IMO for adoption.
Ireland has been campaigning for some time for improvements to the conditions under which nuclear materials are transported around our coasts, and the adoption of the INF Code as a binding code by IMO member states marks an important step forward in this process.
