Vol. 547 No. 1
193 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the measures she is taking to bring about the closure of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant and the associated MOX plant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1348/02]
202 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the status of the legal action taken by the Government to stop the opening of the new reprocessing plant at Sellafield; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1563/02]
218 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the steps she has taken in relation to dealing with the situation of the Sellafield MOX development; the representation she has made directly to the European Commission and to the international body dealing with this subject; if her attention has been drawn to the serious threat and anxiety of people particularly on the east coast in relation to developments at Sellafield; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2151/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 193, 202 and 218 together.
I refer the Deputy to my reply to Dáil Questions Nos. 54, 84 and 121 on 27 November 2001 in which I detailed the Government's activities in pursuit of its campaign against Sellafield and the nature of its legal action against the UK in regard to the MOX plant under both the OSPAR convention and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea – UNCLOS.
In my reply to those questions, I mentioned, in the context of the legal action under UNCLOS, that Ireland had requested the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – ITLOS – to order a legally-binding injunction on the UK to stop the commissioning of the MOX plant and associated shipments of nuclear material and that the outcome of the ITLOS Hearing held on 9 November 2001 in that regard would be known on 3 December 2001. On 3 December 2001, ITLOS duly delivered its judgment. While ITLOS did not agree to the implementation of the injunction measures requested by Ireland, it did decide that UNCLOS has jurisdiction in relation to Ireland's case and that Ireland has rights under UNCLOS to seek to protect the marine environment of the Irish Sea.
The ITLOS judgment order also imposed obligations of cooperation on the UK vis-à-vis exchange of information and construction of appropriate measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment pending the hearing of the substantive case by an arbitration tribunal to be established under UNCLOS. It is anticipated that the hearing of the substantive case by an arbitration tribunal under UNCLOS will take place in the autumn.
