Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I join my colleagues in offering my best wishes to Senator Cummins in his new role. As a proud parliamentarian and Irishman, he fully appreciates the honour bestowed on him and I know he will fulfil his duties with great dignity.

It is ironic that the Green Party was the only party in the general election to campaign on the basis of retaining the Seanad. The principle of bicameralism is very important and I did not enjoy the comments from certain Fine Gael Deputies in regard to other parliaments which have thrown away that principle. That is another example of loose talk which should be knocked on the head. I wish my Green Party colleagues luck in their bid for re-election. Given our unique position on the future of the Seanad, it would be ironic if they failed to be returned.

I called for a debate on nuclear power on three occasions in the year I sat in this House, sometimes in the face of speeches in favour of nuclear power. On one occasion, I spoke at length about the number of quangos and regulatory and supervisory bodies required to put order on the industry. We can see now what happens when that order breaks down. To put in context the ongoing threat posed by the industry to Ireland, I remind Senators that whereas 26 kg of caesium 137 were released across Europe when the core of the reactor in Chernobyl melted down, the waste tanks which store liquid nuclear fuel rods in Sellafield contain more than two tonnes of this material. The caesium is stored in 21 tanks in a building, B215, which is not secure in the event of an aircraft strike. The unimaginable has happened in Japan and it can happen again. The call by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to stress test Sellafield is like calling for a stress test on Anglo Irish Bank because it is a proven case. We need to be more firm in seeking an end to nuclear reprocessing. Sellafield will not and cannot go away and it needs to be managed effectively and secured against the unimaginable. I ask the Government to raise its game on this issue and seek far more than a mere stress test.