Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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412. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is working on obtaining a report from the British Government on the materials that were dumped off the coast of County Donegal after the issue was raised with him at the British-Irish Assembly last month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18782/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The matter of dumping at sea is not within my remit as Minster for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. To be of assistance to the Deputy, I have, however, made enquiries in relation to this issue, which was mentioned in the course of the recent British Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Letterkenny on 4 March. I am also aware that Minister of State, Ciaran Cannon, TD, addressed this matter in a Adjournment Debate on 7th March last.

I am advised that the UK Ministry of Defence undertook sea dumping of weapons and munitions as a means of disposing of redundant and surplus stocks and dealing with the legacy of weapons produced in the World Wars. It is understood that the UK, which at the end of the war in 1945 had a surplus stock of 1.2 million tonnes, was not alone in this process and that most nations at the time disposed of such material by dumping at sea. The relevant legal framework is the Oslo Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft 1972, now OSPAR, at which Ireland is usually represented by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

In addition to OSPAR, Marine Notice No. 16 of 2001 issued by the then Department of the Marine and Natural Resources (now a matter for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport) to all fishermen and other users of the sea relates to explosives and other explosive missiles sighted, picked up in trawls at sea or removed from wrecks. This notice covers chemical and conventional munitions and requires all encounters with such munitions to be reported to the Naval Authorities via the Irish Coast Guard Coast Radio Stations. Information on the location and type of munitions dumped in the Convention area was supplied by contracting parties and published by OSPAR in 2005. The report identified more than 140 dump sites throughout the Convention area and this is believed to be the best information available. In general terms, the distribution of known Conventional munitions dump sites tends to be in inshore waters whereas chemical weapons were dumped further offshore.

I am aware that this issue has given rise to concerns and to be of further assistance to the Deputy, I will arrange for a copy of this question and reply to be forwarded to the Ministers of Environment, Community and Local Government and of Transport, Tourism and Sport, with a request that any additional information be forwarded to the Deputy.