The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources demanded full information from the UK authorities yesterday about revelations of secret dumping of radioactive material in the Irish Sea 30 to 40 years ago.
Dr Woods, who expressed deep concern about the action, has asked for a full inventory of the materials dumped. He was joined by other political parties and environmental groups in condemning the action. He said "firm assurances" had been given in the past that no radioactive material had been dumped.
The Green Party called for full disclosure of all radio-active nuclear dumping which had taken place in the Irish Sea in the past 50 years and Fianna Fail TD, Ms Mary Hanafin, demanded an independent international investigation.
Dr Tom O'Flaherty, chief executive, Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, said radioactivity monitoring had picked up no changes associated with the dumping. The institute's monitoring programme "would show up any effect if there is any radioactivity leaking and will show it up if it happens in the years ahead", he said.
"We are confident in saying there have not been any detectable effects on the Irish Sea," he added. The equipment used by the Institute would be able to detect even small traces of this material if it leaked out of its containers.
Green Party TD Mr John Gormley said the report of the dumping confirmed the worst fears of the Irish population about the secrecy of nuclear dumping. He hoped that this was not the "tip of the iceberg." If this report was only coming to light after 30 or 40 years, they had to ask how much more radioactive material was down there and how contaminated was it?
Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna said Britain's assurances that there was no cause for concern about the waste dumped could not be trusted.
The Irish Government must demand an immediate investigation and there should be continuous monitoring of the radioactive waste between Scotland and Northern Ireland to see how it behaved. She said few sites could be as environmentally sensitive as the Beaufort Dyke, which had been used for dumping munitions, including bombs with nerve gas, for over 50 years.
Ms Hanafin said there was need for an independent international investigation. This was a problem that would not go away and had potential long-term health implications for communities on both sides of the Irish Sea. If Britain had nothing to hide, then it had nothing to fear from an independent international investigation.
Green MEP Ms Nuala Ahern MEP said the Irish Government should ask the British government three questions. What steps were going to be taken to make the dump safe? What exactly had Britain dumped and at what distance from the Irish shore? Would the proposed Northern Ireland/Scotland electricity interconnector dislodge more nuclear waste?