The Government is to have further discussions with the Louth residents group about the level of financial support it is to receive in its legal case against British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). The Minister of State for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Joe Jacob, said he had met with the residents on October 6th and offered them, on behalf of the Government, £200,000 for research purposes towards their case. The offer had been rejected.
"The Government because of its wish to be as helpful and co-operative as possible to the residents have asked me to initiate further discussions with the residents about the level of support which would be appropriate. I look forward to having the opportunity to meet the residents to discuss this support in the near future," he said.
Mr Jacob assured the House the Government would keep under review the question of taking a legal action against BNFL relating to the risk to Ireland from Sellafield.
"That risk is mainly represented by the ever-present possibility of an accident at the plant resulting in serious radioactive contamination to Ireland," he added.
"There is also public concern about the environmental hazard of Sellafield discharges even though in recent years the impact of liquid discharges to the Irish Sea have reduced significantly since the relatively high levels in the mid-1970s."
Mr Jacob announced that the Government had decided to accept a Fine Gael motion, moved in private member's time by the party's spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Ivan Yates, calling on the Government to urgently support the Louth legal case by providing the necessary financial assistance towards research and legal costs as well as the appropriate technical expertise and information.
It might be asked, the Minister said, why a legal action had not been mounted to date by any government despite receiving the attention of several ministers and attorneys general.
"As the opposition know from their last experience in government, litigation against BNFL raises complex technical and legal issues," he added. "This Government will continue to draw upon the best scientific and legal advice before deciding on litigation of such a challenging nature."
Moving the motion, Mr Yates said the Government's pre-election promise to "fully fund" the legal case against Sellafield must be honoured.
"There is now great urgency attaching to this matter as the necessary health research and engineering reports have to be compiled to process the case against British Nuclear Fuels," he added. There is a risk of counter-litigation to finalise the case."
He said the requests made by the residents group were entirely reasonable, and they were prepared to have a proper invoice system to verify legal costs for the future.
The Labour spokesman on energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, said he understood that the Independent TD for Wicklow, Ms Mildred Fox, had contacted the Taoiseach to express her grave concern at the Government's attitude to the Louth group.
He said he accepted Ms Fox's genuine concern, adding that she had more power in the matter than the entire opposition. "Do not be taken for granted," he added.
Debate on the motion continues tonight.
