Vol. 498 No. 4
163 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Defence if the State has dumped military equipment at sea in the past; if so, if he will give details in this regard; if his Department's attention has been drawn to any plans to dump this material at sea, if so, if he will give details in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27607/98]
As I have outlined to the Dáil on a number of occasions, most recently in reply to a question on 11 November 1998, approximately 1,360 tons of obsolete ammunition was disposed of at sea in the Beaufort Dyke and the North Atlantic in the period 1970 to 1994. The material consisted of small arms ammunition, bombs, depth charges, fuses, primers, shells, grenades, pyrotechnics etc. Under the Dumping at Sea Act, 1996, such dumping is no longer permitted.
