Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for attending the House and I thank all who contributed to the debate. It seems that the motion has unanimous support and if so, it sends out a powerful message from the Seanad.

Following the visit by the RPII to Sellafield in September, 2004, its report was presented to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. What it said regarding the need for significant investment in Sellafield for up to 25 years, until the site is decommissioned, even if the plant itself is due to close in 2012, is interesting. I accept the point made by Senator Brian Hayes regarding transparency and the need for more information and access by the RPII. The RPII has made a number of visits to Sellafield. It is interesting that its chief executive has spoken about the significant changes in Sellafield between the visits in 2000 and 2004, for example, particularly regarding the issue of waste arising from the closure of the magnox reactors.

The RPII report deals to a large extent with safety commissioning. It acknowledges that its visit took place as a result of regular meetings which take place between representatives of the Irish and British Governments. I hope that those meetings will continue and that we will have more information.

I was concerned to see what the chief executive officer of the RPII said about the information supplied to the RPII: "The potential contamination levels in Ireland, arising from a series of accidents or incidents at Sellafield, could be such that the Irish authorities would have to intervene to reduce contamination in the food chain". Senator O'Toole referred to this very serious issue for a country which is so proud of its good record in food production.

In its report of May 2002, the RPII said that while radioactivity levels in Irish food are very low, particularly in milk products, and in baby foods, beef, lamb and poultry, Irish drinking waters were found to comply with legal requirements and the World Health Organisation guidelines for water quality from a radiological perspective. When I checked this further, I discovered that the sampling from public water supplies takes place only every four years, though it may take place more often in the major population centres. If that is going to be the case in the future, we would need more sampling of water to ensure that we comply with the safety guidelines for water supplies, and for radioactivity levels in food.

This has been a very good debate. We were given a good deal of information in the speech by the Minister of State. We must work together — and are doing so by means of this unanimous motion — to achieve what is set out in this comprehensive motion, which above all is seeking the decommissioning of the Sellafield project.