James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I wish to join other Senators in congratulating the people on their outpouring of goodwill and generosity following the tsunami disaster. It is wonderful that Irish people have such charity in their hearts at a time when the world appears to be becoming greedier.

I ask the Leader of the House to invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the House to debate the Sellafield report and the impact of a terrorist attack on Sellafield on our land. There is widespread concern among the people in regard to that report which needs to be debated. It is important that the Government negotiates with the British Government regarding the carrying out of an evaluation of the necessary precautions that should be undertaken at Sellafield. We have been told that the next evaluation report on safety precautions and so on is not due until 2006. This is not good enough for our citizens or citizens of any part of Europe because the storage tanks at Sellafield are not constructed to a standard which would withstand a terrorist attack. This is alarming for us all. Now that the report is in the public domain, people are aware that it poses a very serious threat on which there needs to be an urgent debate.