Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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93. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the communications he has made in recent months with officials in Britain regarding their plans to place nuclear waste material on the island of Ireland. [14008/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Senior officials from my Department, and from the Environmental Protection Agency, meet twice yearly with their counterparts from the United Kingdom (UK) through the UK-Ireland Contact Group on Radiological Matters. The matter of the storage and disposal of radioactive waste, and in particular the Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) project, whereby this material is stored in an underground facility, is a standing item on the agenda for the Group. At the most recent meeting of the Group, in November 2018, officials from the UK confirmed that the working policy on the location of potential sites for a GDF relates to England only. It does not include Northern Ireland.

Further confirmation on this was received in writing from UK officials in February of this year. I can, therefore, categorically assure the Deputy that there are no plans by the British authorities to place nuclear waste in Northern Ireland.

My officials will continue to monitor developments and to engage with their UK counterparts, at national and regional levels, to ensure that our views in this matter continue to be represented.