John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I join in the calls for a debate on the nuclear industry. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl incident, which answered the question concerning the probability of the impossible occurring. We were told such an event was impossible, yet it happened. Whether we like it or not, we live in a nuclear zone. We should bear in mind the fact that Dublin is a lot nearer to some of the nuclear facilities in England than Portsmouth,Southampton or London.

I am raising this point in light of the recent RTE programme entitled "Fallout". Whether one considers the programme to be good or bad, and however it was presented, the reality is still there. As I understand it, caesium is carried by clouds. During the recent G8 summit in St. Petersburg, clouds were sprayed before reaching the city to ensure that rain did not fall on the area. I am not suggesting that contaminated clouds should rain on the Isle of Man but God forbid that something unforeseen should happen at Sellafield. The facility's name was changed from Windscale some years ago for public relations reasons. Should anything untoward happen at Sellafield, however, it would be a good idea for our Air Corps to be able to spray the clouds before they reach our shores, thereby protecting the population.

I share in the call for a debate on the electoral register. We have focused this morning on getting people onto the register who are not listed but there are others already on the register whose names should be removed. As a Member of the Oireachtas, I had reason recently to send out a large number of letters in the Dublin area. Many of these were returned to me, so I forwarded them to the franchise section of Dublin City Council. As a result, many of those people were taken off the register on the basis that An Post could confirm they were not living there.