Vol. 484 No. 4
14 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if his Department has conducted a survey on the damage to fish stocks in the Irish Sea in view of the pollution from nuclear power plants in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22327/97]
Irish Fish and fish products from all sources, including the Irish Sea, are subjected to a wide range of regular tests carried out by or on behalf of my Department. These include physical freshness checks for microbiological and viral contamination. Samples are also referred regularly by the Department to the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland for radionuclide testing.
The Radiological Protection Institute carries out radionuclide tests on a regular basis on fish, shellfish, seaweeds, sediment and water from all our coastal waters. In addition, regular sampling and testing for chemicals and heavy metal residues is carried out by the Marine Institute and by a number of analytical laboratories around the country.
The results of ongoing testing of fish from the Irish Sea have not to date given rise to any concerns which would be significant for public health in Ireland. There is some concern about the levels of technesium in lobsters close to the outfall from Sellafield. Such levels have not been recorded here. Notwithstanding the current safeguards however, there is no room for complacency in marine environment and public health matters and I assure the Deputy that testing results will continue to be monitored very closely indeed.
As the Deputy is aware, I have established a task force on dumping of radioactive waste following the revelations about dumping of such waste over the period since the Second World War by the UK authorities. The task force has almost completed its report and I intend to publish it, with a full statement by me of the action I intend to take on foot of its findings.
Regarding the proposed findings and the constant monitoring of the Irish Sea, what contact has been made with the British Authorities on results the Minister has or is there an exchange of views between the Irish Government and the British Government in that regard, given that it is highly likely that the British Government also arranges for carrying out such tests? Has the Minister had contact at EU level on this matter?
This matter is taken very seriously by me, the Department and was taken seriously by my predecessors. It came to a head with the reported dumpings, particularly in the l950s and after the Second World War, by the UK authorities. We have had excellent co-operation from the British authorities on this matter and have had regular meetings with its representatives. Because of the findings I was determined that a document would be prepared outlining the current factual position. Irrespective of whether we like it we should know the position. That information was available in the form of the official documents released for inspection, but nobody spotted it until recently, and in that sense it was not hidden. Since then, in co-operation with the British authorities, we have undertaken a thorough check of those records and further incidents have been discovered. As Deputy Wall may have seen in the media, not so long ago there were further findings which were not of great significance but they were noted. The Deputy may also have noted that the UK National Radiological Protection Institute recently completed its report on the dumping activity of the l950s, l960s and l970s and that is being taken into account by our task force. The UK institute's report concludes that the impact of the dumped materials on human dosage levels is insignificant. However, while I do not see any reason to doubt that, I will await the view of my task force on this matter. More importantly, we need to establish a base position and to establish what monitoring is needed from now on. The UK has given further commitments not to be involved in the dumping of any kind of material in the Irish Sea.
Regarding the fish caught immediately off the Cumbrian coast close to the outfall from Sellafield and where there were reported high levels of technesium found, particularly in shellfish, will the Minister indicate if Irish fishermen fish for shellfish in that area? If they do, will he indicate if the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland is carrying out any special examination of the fish caught in that immediate area and if results of any such examination are available?
Results are available and a comprehensive and detailed report has been published on the levels recorded there and across the Irish Sea. The results show that the levels which were discovered there, particularly in lobsters, did not occur in any catches of Irish marine produce. They indicate that the damage occurs only in the immediate outfall area because the fish do not travel very far and because the outfall is taken up very quickly.
In all the studies which have been carried out, it was found that the areas more immediate to Sellafield were in greatest danger. The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland has looked at these and continues to monitor radiation levels there. We will include a summary of the findings in the task force report to indicate what exactly happened and how it is possible for it to influence only the area immediate to Sellafield and not the rest of the Irish Sea. This is something we must continue to monitor. I want the task force report to be factual and up to date so that we can establish a baseline which we can subsequently monitor.
