I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the generous manner in which he facilitated me in bringing this important issue before the House. This is the first opportunity I have had to raise on the Adjournment so serious a matter and I appreciate the difficulty involved. My purpose is to establish the instructions given to the Irish Delegation to the London dumping conference on the attitude they should adopt in relation to the dumping of radioactive waste at sea. With no disrespect to Minister Collins, I am disappointed that the Tánaiste and Minister for the Environment is not involved in this conference. It is symptomatic of the difficulties of our Government Departments in co-ordinating our position on nuclear dumping at sea that the Minister is here and not at the London dumping convention, where we should appropriately have a ministerial presence.
I refer to a report in The Irish Times of February 15 1983, in which the writer draws attention to Ireland's poor record on nuclear dumping and to the documentation supplied to all Members of this House's hoped-for Clean Seas Committee. Each year, thousand of tonnes of radioactive waste are dumped in the Atlantic 380 miles south-west of Ireland, 90 per cent of which comes from Britain, with smaller amounts coming from other European countries. Grave concern has been expressed by responsible environmental bodies that the Minister has accepted uncritically the advice of the Nuclear Energy Board. Concern has also been expressed that the Nuclear Energy Board are accepting, in the same uncritical manner, advice from the British nuclear industry, despite evidence which clearly points out the dangers of this nuclear dumping.
At present, the only marine nuclear dump site is that 380 miles south west of Ireland which has been in use since 1967 and to date over 145 tonnes have been dumped there. Britain is believed to be anxious to expand its dumping programme significantly in the future. Many of its nuclear reactors are nearing the end of their operating lives and large quantities of radioactive steel and concrete will need to be disposed of. At the London dumping convention this week a considerable lobby, including Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Canada, have indicated that they will support the amendment to ban all nuclear waste dumping at sea. I agree with those who say that we, as a nation, have absolutely nothing to gain from this waste dumping, other than a threat to our health and to our environment. However, in spite of this, our position to date has been one of acceptance and passive support of this dumping. To date, the NEB have endorsed the dumping programme on the basis that no proven damage to marine or human life has been ascertained. However, no monitoring of the dump site was undertaken until 1981 and so far no results are known, or are likely to be known until at least next year. Contrary to popular belief, the waste containers are not sealed but are designed to allow sea water to enter them, thus furthering contamination of the sea bed and the sea life around them.
In view of the lack of adequate evidence guaranteeing the safety of the dumping, it is imperative that this dumping be discontinued. A summary of the environmental case against sea dumping contained in a report entitled Sea Dumping of Nuclear Waste and its Effects on Ireland was, I understand, submitted to the NEB in July of last year, with an invitation to comment. However, so far they have received none, nor has the summary been refuted. There is growing opposition from local authorities to dumping. So far more than 40 local authorities have passed resolutions against the practice and called for Government action. Already there is evidence that the Irish Sea is seriously affected by radioactive dumping. Recently the Department of Physics at UCD pointed out in a report that the Irish Sea is the most radioactive in the world as a result of Windscale dumping in Cumbria. That is a very serious position and something of which the Minister should be aware.
Therefore the questions I should like to pose to the Minister are as follows: Is the Minister satisfied with the information he is receiving from the Nuclear Energy Board and does he accept that it is a balanced view in the light of other European countries, such as Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain and Italy and the position they have taken? Have reports of our observers on nuclear dumping been made available to the Minister and his staff, or to any of the Government Departments responsible for this by the NEB? Can the Minister indicate the degree of pollution affecting the Irish Sea from the Windscale nuclear reprocessing plant at Cumbria and what is being done by his Department or the Government generally to monitor and ensure that we have a say in what is happening there? Can the Minister indicate the degree of pollution caused by the dumping off the north west coast of this country? Can the Minister indicate what studies have been carried out when the barrels which are dumped 380 miles north west of this country rest at the bottom of the sea over a period of time? Are observer reports on nuclear dumping in the Irish Sea available to the Minister?
Finally, in view of the seriousness of this issue, will the Minister now undertake to ensure that decisions on nuclear dumping, such as those I have referred to, are monitored closely by him and other Government agencies responsible and arrange from time to time for the information made available to him to be placed in the Oireachtas Library for the perusal of Members? Will the Minister indicate why he or another Government Minister did not attend the London dumping conference?
I consider this issue to be one of the most serious. The dumping site north west of Ireland is the only — and I want to stress this — sea dumping site in the world. There is at present controversy in Japan where there are 235,000 barrels stored on land. They are anxious to dump them in the Pacific but there is opposition from the Pacific islands and countries that would be affected by it.
I might point out also that America ended their dumping practice in 1972. Despite very serious in-depth research into the question of nuclear dumping at sea they have not resumed the practice. I understand from sources in the American Embassy and elsewhere that there is no intention now by America to resume sea dumping because of the information available to them.
I want to stress that if our environment and health are to be threatened by this dumping 380 miles north west of Ireland then we must take this matter very seriously indeed. I suggest that the Minister at least monitor and be certain that our Nuclear Energy Board are taking the right decisions, are taking political decisions based on the will of the Members of this House——
