Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
11. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on his recent engagements with the British government; if he has engaged with the British government regarding reported safety issues at the Sellafield nuclear facility; if he discussed this matter with the British Foreign Secretary when they met on 13 December 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56805/23]
View answerIreland engages regularly with the UK Government on issues of nuclear safety and security, including in relation to the Sellafield site. I raised this issue with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron during our meeting in London on 13 December 2023.
Ireland attaches the greatest importance to ensuring the highest levels of nuclear safety by all users of nuclear energy, and engages actively in work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and under the Convention on Nuclear Safety, working with the UK, and EU partners, to this end.
Officials from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), engage regularly with UK counterparts and relevant regulators, including under the auspices of the UK Ireland Contact Group on Radiological Matters, which also encompasses matters relating to the Sellafield site.
I understand that officials from that Department, together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most recently visited the Sellafield site in July 2023 to see at first hand the decommissioning operations that are underway at Sellafield. We continue to engage closely with the relevant UK authorities to ensure that the current levels of progress being made on the site on the various projects dealing with legacy related matters are maintained.
