I propose to take Questions Nos. 126, 145, 166 and 190 together.
On 31 January, I had meetings with the EU Commissioner for Energy, with responsibility for nuclear energy and protection, Andris Piebalgs, and the Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini, to impress upon the European Commission the strength of Irish Government concerns about the continued operation of the Sellafield nuclear plant. The meetings concentrated on issues relating to Sellafield and especially the incident at THORP where a serious leak of radioactive liquid into secondary containment occurred in April 2005. I made clear that this leak was yet another worrying example of the long standing poor operational safety record at Sellafield. I also raised the issue of the B30 storage pond that is the subject of a directive issued by the Commission to the UK. I focused on the serious safety failures which arose at the THORP facility and, in particular, the implications that this has for safety and the operation of the safeguards system at Sellafield.
The Commission indicated that it had been misled in regard to the THORP plant. This is a very serious position and underlines the need for the Commission to act. I expect that we will shortly see action being taken under the EURATOM Treaty about the failures at THORP last year. The Commission also indicated to me that further legal action was expected over the B30 pond.
I advised the Commission that while it had claimed competency on the subject matter of the dispute between Ireland and the UK under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, there had been little evidence to date of a desire by the Commission to exercise that competence. I made clear our view that the Commission has a legal and moral duty to deliver on its nuclear mandate and to address failures of Sellafield. I expressed the Irish Government's determination to pursue all possible legal and political action against the continued operation of the Sellafield plant.