Vol. 572 No. 5
12 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the position in regard to his request to the British authorities to allow Irish experts to inspect the Sellafield nuclear plant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23614/03]
For a number of years, the Irish Government has sought access to Sellafield by Irish experts and, in February 2000, staff of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland were granted permission by the United Kingdom authorities formally to visit the site. Based on their examination of the safety documentation, in December 2000 the RPII produced a report on the storage of liquid high-level radioactive waste at Sellafield. This set out a number of conclusions and recommendations for BNFL and its regulators. The report is freely available from the RPII.
The question of obtaining further access to Sellafield by Irish experts has been regularly raised with the UK authorities. I again raised the possibility of obtaining access to Sellafield by Irish experts at my meeting with the former UK Energy Minister, Brian Wilson, on 18 May 2003. It is also one of a number of issues that has been raised in the context of discussions with the UK following the provisional measures award of the UNCLOS Annex VII Tribunal of 24 June 2003. Discussions on this proposal are continuing. I will raise this issue again when I meet with my UK counterparts shortly.
