Vol. 519 No. 2
77 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if the manner of dealing with correspondence in relation to Sellafield from Members of the Oireachtas to the office of the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has been raised at meetings between the British and Irish Governments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12745/00]
As the Deputy will be aware, the ‘Dispatches' programme on Channel 4 on 13 April last suggested there was significant involvement by BNFL in determining the treatment of correspondence from a Member of the Oireachtas to the British Prime Minister.
I should state, as has previously been acknowledged by the Deputy concerned, that requesting advice and assistance from a State agency in relation to external correspondence is not in itself unusual. It is the tone and content of the alleged advice and the extent to which it may have been heeded that is objectionable.
At the request of the Taoiseach, I wrote to Ms Helen Liddell, MP, the British Minister of State for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe on the following day in the matter. I pointed out to Minister Liddell that, if the allegations relating to this matter are correct, I believed it to be damaging that correspondence from a Member of the Oireachtas should be treated in what seems to have been a disrespectful fashion. I asked Minister Liddell to let me have her Government's response to the allegations.
I am awaiting Minister Liddell's reply. However, I should add that the Taoiseach raised this issue with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at their meeting in Dublin on 18 April last and is now in correspondence with the Prime Minister on the matter.
