Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Minister has been lulled into a state of soporific complacency on the transport of radioactive fuel up and down the Irish Sea. It passes his constituency and mine and it also passes the city of Dublin where more than 1 million live. When the first shipment of MOX fuel came through the Irish Sea from Japan many Ministers spoke out and protested here, there and everywhere. The Minister called out the Irish Coast Guard service and the Irish Air Corps, and there was great public debate. Everybody agreed with those actions and supported those views. However, in June 2005, when the second shipment of MOX was being transported through the Irish Sea the Minister was told about it but did absolutely nothing. He was silent on this issue, which is shameful, compared to the activity and concern expressed so publicly and so clearly by the Government.

The issue is why did the Minister remain silent? There is no regulation binding the Minister to a law of omerta when cargo, specifically cargo which could be used by terrorists to make a nuclear bomb or in the event of an accident at sea could cause serious pollution for many years in the Irish Sea, is being transported. The Minister remained silent and useless. It is worthless that the Minister kept quiet and said nothing when this was going on.

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