Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

This is an appalling tragedy for the people of Japan. They have the sincere sympathies of this House and the Irish people. This is just the latest disaster of epic proportions following those in New Zealand, Pakistan and Haiti. We cannot but admire the heroism and calmness of the Japanese people as they come to terms with what has happened.

People in Ireland, particularly on the eastern seaboard, also face the possibility of nuclear fall-out from Sellafield. There is concern about the safety of aging nuclear power facilities, particularly following what happened in Japan. The Government has agreed to set aside €1.3 million in 2011 to carry out scientific and legal research into the risk posed by the Cumbria plant. There was money allocated to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government last year and reining in any of that money would not make sense.

There should be more discussion of the reports from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. It received approximately €10 million over the past three years but how seriously are we taking its reports? According to the institute, the most significant source of radioactivity in the Irish Sea is liquid discharges resulting from reprocessing operations at Sellafield. These discharges are authorised within prescribed limits by Britain's environment agency but what about our rights? Successive Irish Governments have expressed concerns about Sellafield and have met the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. I support the call by Senator Mark Dearey to the Taoiseach to seek an immediate commitment from the British Energy Secretary on these aging reactors.

I had to turn to page 16 of The Irish Times world news section to get the latest news. How quickly these stories move from the front pages. There is no mention of Pakistan these days. Japan's nuclear plant is still emitting radiation but it is not clear from where. I, too, acknowledge the heroic sacrifices of those who are working at the plant and putting their lives at risk every minute of their working day. It is frightening to read of the high levels of radioactivity in food at locations south of Fukushima and in the water supply in Tokyo. All those who gathered at Carnsore Point many years ago to protest against nuclear power must feel totally vindicated. It is also interesting to read about Chancellor Merkel's U-turn on this matter. The further difficulties for Japan's industries are also being highlighted. The plant was supposed to be proof against the strongest seismic events but its cooling systems were knocked out by the earthquake and tsunami. How can we believe claims of technological impunity?

The buildings in Tokyo were built with the best materials, and there are lessons in that regard. We saw what happened in Haiti and China. To return to the human stories, one cannot look at the photographs today without being reminded of the photographs taken after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese people recovered from that and I have no doubt that they will recover again.

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