Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

In fairness to the Minister, he has at least shown a degree of openness in his dealings with local residents. I understand that yesterday he made available to them a number of reports, including a previously confidential report from 2005 commissioned by Cork County Council which found the carcinogen, chromium 6, to be above acceptable levels. This certainly would explain the above average rate of cancer in the general area. I understand he also has promised to make available to them all previous reports, as well as a new report by independent consultants. If that is the case, it is to be welcomed but as I stated previously, he should go further and publish them.

Apart from the specific case under discussion, once again Members are dealing with a situation in which the public interest has been sacrificed to political expediency. This has been the case in respect of the Sellafield plant, an issue with which I have been involved for many years and in which we have had to contend with persistent denials, cover-ups and sleight of hand designed to obscure the facts. The bottom line in many instances appears to be that State bureaucrats and their political masters — perhaps that ought to be the other way round — will go to inordinate lengths to prevent the emergence of any facts that might embarrass them or prove that they have been in error, even in instances where they are left carrying the can for events that happened before they had responsibility for them. Perhaps an inherited corporate code of omerta is in operation. On the other hand, members of parties who were once in the position in which the Minister now finds himself, are acting as if the matter has nothing to do with them and their parties were never in government. People affected by these issues do not care about those matters. They are not interested in who was Minister back then and who got which report and on which date. They are solely interested in the truth about the potential risks to which they have been exposed. We need to ensure that they get the facts.

Just to remind the House that some things have not changed, I wish to revert briefly to the proposed destruction of a consignment of hydrogen cyanide at the Kilbride military camp in County Wicklow. Had it not been for public protests and information being made available to public representatives and to locals who were being deliberately kept in the dark about it, this might very well have become yet another Haulbowline.

The common factor in all of this is the Defence Forces personnel. Members of the Naval Service were, and still are, at risk in Haulbowline, yet seemingly it was thought acceptable to destroy a highly dangerous substance in an area under the control of the military. The added advantage was that anything done in such a location would be less likely to become public knowledge, due to the restrictions placed on members of the Defence Forces regarding what takes place in military installations. Despite this, local people know what was supposed to have taken place and I call on the Minister, in the spirit of the new openness which he displayed towards the Cork people he met last evening, to make a statement on exactly what is proposed to take place in Wicklow and to prevent it going ahead if it presents a risk to either the local population or to people within the Kilbride camp.

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