The Government will go to court if the British government is not complying with international law in relation to radioactive discharges from Sellafield, the Dail was assured.

Mr Joe Jacob, Minister of State for Public Enterprise, told deputies during a special notice question on the Cumbrian nuclear reprocessing plant that "I will not hesitate to undertake appropriate litigation if I believe the UK government is not complying with the provisions of international law".

He said the matter had been raised by the Taoiseach on a number of occasions with the British Prime Minister, and Mr Jacob said he would be reporting to Mr Ahern on the issue following a meeting later yesterday evening with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.

A number of deputies raised the issue following revelations that safety data in the nuclear reprocessing plant had been deliberately falsified. Mr Jacob said the "demonstration plant" at Sellafield was now shut down and that "at least gives us some reassurance that there is no current risk to Ireland from any of these operations".

However this drew a sharp response from Opposition deputies. Mr Emmet Stagg (Lab, Kildare North) said it was amazing the Minister should claim the plant was not a risk to Ireland "given all we have been told about Sellafield in the past few days".

Mr Austin Currie (FG, Dublin West) asked if the Attorney General's advice about litigation, which the Minister said he was seeking, had been made available.

Mr Jacob said he had told British Ministers including the deputy Prime Minister, that "at the end of the day the people of Ireland and this Government want a total cessation of nuclear activities at Sellafield". He pointed out the matter had been ongoing for 40 years.