Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I share Deputy Broughan's concerns. The vast majority of Irish people are not happy with the transport of nuclear materials anywhere near this country. There was a famous incident some years ago when nuclear waste was being transported to Sellafield where the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, sent out Air Corps spotter planes to have a look at what was going on.

I fully accept the issue of the context of the ship in which such materials are being carried. However, if there is an accident or an incident involving any of these ships, either in international waters close to us or in Irish waters, the key point of which people would be concerned is the capacity to respond if they would be allowed in. The Minister stated there is no present Irish carrier but if such a ship were to enter our waters, there are serious issues that could arise in terms of an accident on that ship such as a fire or a leakage of nuclear material. Notwithstanding the 1 million to one chance of that happening, I suppose one could argue that the attack on the Twin Towers in New York on 11 September 2001 was a 1 billion to one chance but it still happened. Therefore, we must look at the issue of how an accident or incident would affect the capacity of this country to respond. Theoretically, it could have long-term implications for our fishing industry at the very least. No doubt the Minister would not have a problem with the regulations having to take due cognisance of and regard to that potential possibility, remote as it may be. Whatever rules and regulations the Minister would make would no doubt be of international standard and should be the most stringent possible.

The other issue that arises hypothetically is that in the future Government policy may change. There is an increasing nuclear lobby in this country and there are signs of it everywhere. People in my constituency - it is a cross-party view in County Louth - are very much opposed to a nuclear plant being built in Ireland. If, however, that were the case, it would involve delivery of nuclear materials which presently are not delivered to this State. I refer to what might happen down the line, in five, ten or 15 years or whatever. I would ask the Minister to reflect on those issues in his response. There has been a consensus in this Parliament for many years, both in Government and Opposition, that we would not welcome the nuclear industry here. We have stronger legislation than we ever had in that regard. It is not the Minister's intention in this legislation that the position will change. Nevertheless, the fact that he is talking about making rules down the road could have implications if that were to happen.

Those are the two issues. The first relates to the terms of an incident or accident. The second is the hypothetical question, if there were a nuclear industry here, notwithstanding Deputy Dempsey's opposition to it, of what extra special, if any, safeguards would be built in.

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