Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I thank Senator Ross sincerely for sharing his time with me. I welcome this important debate and concur with the comments of previous speakers. This is an issue that, from time to time and for various reasons, has slipped off the agenda yet there have been countless opportunities to keep it to the fore.

Casting our minds back to 11 September 2001, we are all too well aware what a civilian airliner loaded with aviation fuel can do to buildings. The consequences of the events of 11 September were devastating and catapulted this issue back into the public domain but it has fallen back since then. This issue must be kept to the fore, and not just in terms of the Northern Ireland talks, which would provide an ideal opportunity to discuss it with a view to taking a proactive measure. It could be raised in a European context also.

I acknowledge this plant is Government owned, that it is an important part of the UK economy and that it supplies one quarter of the UK's energy but as a result the Irish Sea is one of the most radioactive bodies of water in the world. The danger it poses to the environmental and physical health of our nation is frightening and there is a clear consequence also in terms of trade. Many Irish fishermen have caught mutated fish. It is not a mystery why fish, shellfish and sea plants in the Irish Sea often contain substantial amounts of radiation.

There is no doubt that the dumping of radioactive waste puts human life at risk. Spray from the Irish Sea turns into radioactive dust and can be found on beaches and in people's homes. I will give the House some startling statistics based on factual information. There are increased rates of cancer, not just on our east coast but also on the west coast of England. There is a little village near Sellafield called Seascale where a disproportionate amount of cancer has been reported among the population. The residents have to be convinced that this is as a direct result of Sellafield. There is also an unusually high number of leukaemia cases among children but in March 1996, Government scientists in the UK were able to produce a report that concluded there was no link between the cancer levels and radiation from the Sellafield plant. I can only assume that intelligence is as inaccurate as the intelligence the Prime Minister received on weapons of mass destruction. We are all aware what happened when Governments wanted to advance the destruction of civilian lives in the Middle East. They were able to produce dossiers that supported a belief that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We now know who was right and who was wrong about that but it is unfortunate that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered in the process.

Sellafield has 11 silos of radioactive nuclear waste, each containing an amount of waste eight times the amount released by Chernobyl in 1986. That is a startling statistic. Sellafield is of benefit to the UK economy but it is of no benefit to this country. It is all risk and danger. On the last occasion of a leak at Sellafield, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland was notified within a few hours. That was a change in terms of the track record of that institute and a welcome development.

The first part of the motion states that Sellafield should be closed in view of the pollution, poor safety record and devastating impact a serious accident or terrorist attack could have on all aspects of life in Ireland. That is not realistic. A total of 15,000 people are employed directly or indirectly in the plant at Sellafield. The British Government will not shut down the plant. We would want that to happen but we must be realistic. The process of attempting to shut down this plant should begin with a call for an immediate halt to the reprocessing at the plant. That would be a step in the right direction.

There is an irony in the Government's motion this evening. The Government agreeing to proceed with an electricity interconnector to Britain casts a slur on the motion and represents marked hypocrisy in terms of its purpose and the Government's track record.

I call for an immediate cessation of reprocessing at the Sellafield plant and urge the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, to make the Government aware of the importance of discussing that issue in the Northern Ireland talks. That is a critical forum in which to advance it, not just in the European context but in the Northern Ireland context also.