I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 39 together. At the request of my Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs made formal, high-level diplomatic approaches to the Governments of countries which signed, or which were contemplating signing, reprocessing agreements on spent nuclear fuel with the THORP facility, setting out the concerns of the Irish Government in this area. The Irish position was generally sympathetically received by the authorities concerned and the concerns were then conveyed to the nuclear electricity companies. However, it was pointed out by the Governments concerned that they could not intervene directly in contractual agreements entered into with British Nuclear Fuels.
The Government will continue to make known its concerns about operations at THORP through diplomatic channels and to promote, at every appropriate opportunity in relevant international fora, the Government's opposition to THORP.