Greenpeace delegate deplores Irish stance

Greenpeace's main negotiator at the OSPAR convention was highly critical of the Irish stance, and accused the delegation of being "incompetent . . . too soft and in love with the British position" on radioactive discharges into the sea.

This interpretation was vehemently rejected by Minister of State for Energy, Mr Joe Jacobs, who headed the Irish delegation.

The environmental group's veteran campaigner on nuclear waste of 20 years standing, Mr Remi Parmentier, from France, said he was appalled by the Irish position which, if it continued to be the norm in such negotiations, would mean that "Irish people would have to continue to eat radioactive food" from the Irish Sea. Ireland had aligned with Britain at a crucial stage and was "not prepared to fight", he claimed.

Greenpeace had observer status at the meeting but no voting rights and were not, however, privy to the full extent of the negotiations which continued throughout the Wednesday night and early yesterday morning.

Mr Jacob, who has responsibility for nuclear issues, admitted he had "tough words in the early hours" with Mr Parmentier, but after the agreement was finalised the Greenpeace representative came up to him, shook his hands in congratulation and added: "This is a big one", the minister said.

The Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise added that the "fantastic outcome" of the meeting put the lie to the Greenpeace claims.

The reality was, he said, that Ireland had made the running on the issue of radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea, particularly "within the OSPAR system over the past 12 months".