Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I wish to share time with Deputy Charlie O'Connor.

Perhaps the most enlightening and pleasing facet of Deputy Durkan's contribution was his interest in organic gardening. I will share with the House my interest in reading, which probably got me into the Green Party. In the 1970s, I read a most incredible book entitled Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which tells the story of chemical contamination in the United States. It had a profound effect on my future politics as well as on how we treat, store, ship and transport chemicals. The author, Ms Rachel Carson, had to spend a good deal of her scientific life defending her reputation and I am glad to say she was vindicated in the end. I very much welcome the introduction of this Bill to the Dáil. For many years the track record of many countries, including our own, has been poor and this is an opportunity for that to be addressed.

The transposition of the REACH directive is very important and the benefits of the Bill, such as the implementation of the "no data, no market" principle — producers or importers not being able to introduce a chemical onto the market without recording the details of it — is very significant and important. We should not have to read the tiny print with binoculars. We should be able to access that information very clearly to monitor what passes through our countries. This means better control. Where possible, the chemicals industry will have to use alternative, and sometimes safer, substances to some of the more toxic substances being used in industry. The rights of consumers and producers to obtain information on dangerous substances included an incredible number of chemicals listed in the directive, more than 30,000. This is a very positive step which will increase transparency and accountability in how industry deals with chemical substances. It will make industry and the public more aware of environmental protection and lead to safer handling of chemicals during transportation in and out of our countries. That is to be welcomed.

The transposition of the Seveso II directive included in this Bill is another very important step in modernising our chemical legislation. This directive and its predecessor are very important and, unfortunately, arise from the carelessness and reckless environmental behaviour of some members of the industry. The incident at Seveso, where dense vaporous clouds were released from a reactor giving rise to a poisonous and carcinogenic by-product in an uncontrolled reaction, led to untold environmental damage. Anybody who has read the history of that incident will heartily welcome this new directive being enshrined in legislation.

We have all read about other incidents such as the accident at a Union Carbide factory in India in 1984. I well remember reading the reports of the 2,500 deaths, many of them children, and the dreadful vapour from this chemical leak in India. The survivors of that still live with the untold suffering of poorly controlled industry. Closer to home contaminated fire-fighting water caused serious pollution of the wonderful Rhine river. These are two further reminders of how we must never be complacent about what can happen when safety surrounding the use of chemicals is ignored or safety measures in our legislation are insufficient.

In this context the Seveso II directive is very important in Ireland, particularly on storage of dangerous substances. I have been contacted by many people in the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny about such substances located very near to residential homes and which may be slightly under the threshold for protection by the Seveso directive. They are worried in case an explosion has a detrimental impact on their homes, particularly in north Kilkenny, where I am dealing with a particular incident.

I note the current review of this area by the European Commission and look forward to reading the report of the study on this directive's effectiveness when it comes out hopefully later this year. In this area I urge the Minister, perhaps in consultation with my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, to work proactively at European level to further all safety measures to enhance safety here at home and throughout the Union. Perhaps aspects of this Bill need to be amended, such as higher fines, but anything we can do beyond the directive to further strengthen and enforce safe use and treatment of chemicals in Ireland is to be deeply welcomed.

See this speech in context