Austin Currie
Ceist:57 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position on the Government's efforts to have Sellafield closed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13322/00]
Priority Questions. - Nuclear Plants.
Leaving aside the matter of potential litigation which is the subject of another question, the most dramatic development relating to Sellafield has, of course, been the United Kingdom's nuclear installations inspectorate reports published on 18 February last, dealing with the control and supervision of operations at Sellafield and the falsification of safety related data for MOX fuel pellets.
In the immediate aftermath, I met the UK Minister for Energy, Mrs. Liddell, and called for the closure of Sellafield because of our serious anxieties about the safety of operations there in the light of the inspectorate's report. The Taoiseach has also expressed the Government's objections to the continuation of Sellafield's operations and has stressed the Irish Government's concerns in the course of recent contacts with the British Prime Minister.
The Government has also intensified international efforts to bring about the closure of Sellafield. We tabled a draft decision for discussion at the meeting of the commission of the OSPAR convention on the protection of the marine environment of the north-east Atlantic. In parallel with our draft decision, this meeting will also discuss how participating countries will implement the OSPAR strategy on radioactive substances which has as its objective the virtual elimination by the year 2020 of radioactive discharges into the sea.
Ireland's draft decision for discussion at the OSPAR commission meeting highlights the increased public concern following the publi cation of the UK nuclear installations inspectorate's reports. It also identifies reprocessing plants as a significant source of pollution to the marine environment. Accordingly, we believe the OSPAR commission meeting represents a unique opportunity to further our objective of closing down Sellafield reprocessing operations. A similar draft decision to our own has been tabled by the Danish Government.
I recently visited relevant Ministers in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland to discuss the general approach to the two draft decisions tabled by Ireland and Denmark. I had already discussed our approach with the Danish Minister when he met me in Dublin on 27 March last.
I found my recent Nordic visit very worthwhile. In the course of the ministerial meetings there was some discussion of a potential agreed text which took account of the Irish and Danish draft decisions. There was also some discussion of a consensus text which would be binding on all countries including the UK and France. If we do not achieve unanimity at the OSPAR commission meeting, a qualified majority decision would be binding only on the countries who vote in favour of it. Therefore, if the UK were to vote against, it would not be obliged to comply with the terms of the decision. In any event, I will keep our text on the table but, of course, I would welcome continuing contacts at official level to see what progress can be made on an alternative text. As necessary, I will keep in touch with my Nordic colleagues in the next few weeks. I am also writing to other OSPAR Ministers to gather support.
I believe the tabling of the Irish and Danish draft decisions has placed significant pressure on the UK Government to consider the future of reprocessing operations. Of course, without unanimity by all participating countries, there is no guarantee of success at the OSPAR commission meeting in June. However, at the very minimum, I consider that the tabling of the Danish and Irish proposals has given a major boost to the Irish campaign to close down Sellafield reprocessing operations.
I welcome the tenor of the Minister of State's remarks and particularly the last sentence. I also welcome his statement, reported in the newspapers, that the June meeting in Copenhagen, to which he has referred, will be "the beginning of the end for Sellafield". I welcome that remark and I ask the Minster of State to put it on the record of the House.
Does the Minister of State agree that one of the most useful developments, from the point of view of the closing of Sellafield, was the recent decision of Bill Richardson, the United States Secretary for Energy, who reviewed the British Nuclear Fuels contract for cleaning nuclear waste in the United States? This has been a sore blow to Sellafield. What contacts has the Minister of State had with the US Government in this regard because the support of the US Government would be extremely useful?
In view of previous remarks made by me when I urged co-operation between North and South in opposition to Sellafield, has the Minister of State had discussions with anyone north of the Border and if not, in the hope that the power sharing Government in Northern Ireland will get off the ground in the next week or so, will he immediately enter into discussions with his opposite number in the Northern Ireland Executive to maximise the pressure in regard to Sellafield?
"Co-operation" was the word used by the Deputy. I appreciate greatly the co-operation and support I have received from the Members of this and the other House on this subject which has been used as a political football during the years—
Mostly by Fianna Fáil in Opposition.
—and on which there is now consensus. As a result the campaign against Sellafield conducted by successive Ministers, not least my predecessor, Deputy Stagg, has been elevated to a new plane and there are opportunities to raise it further. Co-operation and interaction with our colleagues in the North should continue to prove productive. I recently addressed a conference of local authority members on these islands, some of whom would be well known to Deputy Currie. Not alone was there good interaction inside and outside the confines of the meeting, but we undertook to maintain this rapport.
On the US Secretary for Energy and the major contract with Sellafield which appears to have been aborted, there is something paradoxical about the matter. While the UK nuclear industry is confronted by serious difficulties, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Nordic countries and ourselves—-
We are well over time on this question.
The Deputy and other colleagues in the House have exhorted the British Government and the UK nuclear industry to engage in clean- up operations, the substance of the contract in question. I will continue to exhort the UK authorities and BNFL to engage in such operations, including vitrification, to the exclusion of reprocessing.