Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Feb 1994

Vol. 438 No. 5

Written Answers. - Marine Pollution.

Avril Doyle

Ceist:

186 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications whether he will invoke arbitration through the Paris Commission in view of the fact that the UK have not fulfilled their obligations under the 1974 Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from land based sources, and, in particular, in view of the UK's failures to abide by Recommendation 93/5, proposed jointly by Ireland and Denmark, dealing with the new or revised discharge authorisation for radioactive discharges from nuclear reprocessing installations.

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Cowen)

The 1974 Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from land based sources, and any Recommendations arising from it, is not legally enforceable on Contracting Parties. In particular, the UK Government dissented from Recommendation 93/5 which was supported by a majority of Contracting Parties at a joint meeting of the Oslo and Paris Commissions which took place in Berlin in June 1993. The UK Government have stated that they consider that the role which this particular Recommendation sought to provide for the Paris Commission was unacceptable to them, that is, in the approval or rejection of a specific project.

I consider the UK's attitude to be totally unsatisfactory in the context of protecting our environment from radioactive discharges from nuclear reprocessing operations. In this connection, I have arranged for a senior representative from my Department to attend a forthcoming Oslo/Paris Commission meeting to raise the serious matter of the UK's lack of commitment to Recommendation 93/5.