Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the Espoo Convention. There was a complaint by an Irish NGO to the convention implementation committee about the lack of consultation with the Irish public on Hinkley. Ireland received a letter from the committee on 14 October 2013 asking if we thought the proposed nuclear plant was likely to cause significant transboundary effect.

The UN committee asked specifically whether the Government considered "that the proposed development at Hinkley Point C is likely to cause significant adverse transboundary impact on the territory of Ireland". The response we provided on 22 November 2013 did not answer that question. When the Norwegian Government received a similar letter a year later, it responded by saying that it could not confirm that it was not likely that the proposed NPP at Hinkley Point C, in the case of a major accident or incident, could cause significant adverse transboundary environmental impact on the territory of Norway. Why did we not answer the question that was asked by the UN committee?