Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 16 Jun 1988

Vol. 382 No. 3

Estimates, 1988. - Vote 45: Forestry.

Minister for Energy (Mr. R. Burke)

I move:

That a sum not exceeding £31,038,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1988, for salaries and expenses in connection with Forestry, Timber Processing, and Amenities and for payment of certain grants and grants-in-aid.

I would like in the short time available to me to thank the Members of the House who have contributed to this debate on energy and forestry. I have very little time and it will not be possible for me to reply to all the contributions. However, I assure Deputies I have taken note of the points made and will take them into consideration in the decisions of the Department in the period ahead. I thank the Deputies for their words of encouragement.

I will start with the final speaker. At the beginning of his speech he was very complimentary to the Minister of State and myself in our efforts in the Department. It is a pity he changed as the speech went on. I am very grateful to him for his expressions of encouragement and his support for the efforts we have been making. The Deputy then dealt with the nuclear threat, Sellafield and various other issues relating to the British nuclear industry. This was the theme of most of the speakers in the debate this evening. I would like to put the record straight.

I do not like to refer back to the record of my predecessors in relation to this issue but it was brought forward by Deputy Carey. For the information of Members who were not here up to the last general election, in the four years of the previous Administration, and particularly in the last year, on three occasions we had Private Members' debates calling on the British administration to close Sellafield. It was only on the third occasion, near the dying hours of the previous Administration in December 1986, in their last couple of weeks in this House before the general election, that they agreed to a united call on the British Government from Dáil Éireann to close Sellafield. Deputy Carey, who contributed to this debate tonight, trooped through those lobbies on the other two occasions and rejected that simple call. He then comes into this House and lectures me and the Government on the fact that we should be taking immediate court action——

Mr. Carey

Which you promised.

Mr. R. Burke

——against the British administration, not that it should be done now but that it should have been done yesterday or the day before. This Government since coming to office have given a very high priority to the threat from the nuclear issue. We have lobbied continuously at national and international level.

Mr. P. O'Malley

What progress has been made on it?

Mr. R. Burke

We have lobbied in relation to the closure of Sellafield and the Trawsfynydd experiment and we were successful in that case. A very dangerous experiment was to take place at the old magnox reactor in Trawsfynydd but due to the pressure from this Government, and an awareness in the areas surrounding Trawsfynydd and the pressure from there that dangerous experiment was postponed.

Through our efforts and co-operation with our friends in the Isle of Man we have brought a greater awareness in the UK of the dangers of the old magnox reactors, to such an extent that they are now the subject of very detailed public debate about their future, and in particular in the period as they go into the private sector. There is an ongoing debate, resulting from all the lobbying we have done at political level, about the future of the nuclear industry in Britain. It has been the subject of a number of television programmes even in the past month or six weeks. I have no doubt that the continuing lobbying will pay off.

Mr. P. O'Malley

Will it result in the closure of Sellafield?

Mr. R. Burke

We have also been very much involved, not as passive observers but actually involved, in a court case, the Cattenom case, which had major implications in relation to the involvement of the European Commission and how the Commission should meet its obligations under the EURATOM Treaty in relation to the question of having an independent health and safety inspectorate at EC level rather than depending on the national inspectorate which exists at present in each individual country.

The whole question of legal action has been the subject of consideration by the Attorney General at the request of the Government and that consideration is proceeding. Much progress has been made but much remains to be done. The British Government have been committed to a nuclear policy for many reasons one of which resulted from the 1973 coalminers' strike when they found themselves in a situation that they had no alternative energy supply. Following that period the Conservative Government, when they came to office, were very strongly in favour of a nuclear policy. However, as this area is being privatised in Britain there will be a change in thinking. I do not believe that private industry will be able to afford the costs involved in the public hearings in relation to future investments in nuclear plants.

The worldwide trend is against nuclear plants. Major changes are taking place in relation to decisions by Governments to alter their nuclear policies not only in Europe but also in America where there had been a very thriving nuclear industry. In that country many plants which had been built are not now in operation: some of the plants were never allowed to go into operation. In discussions which I had with the regulatory authorities in the US in January last it was made quite clear that no new plants would be built or even planned there until well into the next century, if at all.

I regret I do not have time to respond to the other issues that have been raised but I have taken note of them and I assure the Deputies I will give them consideration, as I have promised. I will report to the House at Question Time on occasions throughout the year in relation to progress on the various items. That is as much as time allows me to cover at this stage. Once again, I thank Deputies for contributing to the debate.

An Ceann Comhairle

As it is now 7 o'clock, I am required to put the following question in accordance with the order of the Dáil on this day: "That the Estimate for Energy and the Estimate for Forestry for the year ending 31 December 1988 are hereby agreed to.

Votes put and agreed to.