Woods welcomes information on Irish Sea dumping

The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, has welcomed the statement by a Galway-based ex-merchant seaman in relation to alleged dumping of toxic, and possibly radioactive, waste in the Irish Sea during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Responding to a report in The Irish Times yesterday, the Minister said he had taken up the allegations made by Mr Regan with the British authorities.

The Green Party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr John Gormley, has already called for an inquiry into the claims by Mr Regan (71), who formerly worked with the Limerick Steamship Company.

Mr Regan, who now lives in Renmore, Galway, said he believes he and his colleagues unwittingly dumped toxic and possibly radioactive waste which emanated from Windscale, Sellafield's former name, into the Irish Sea.

The company was commissioned to dispose of 40 cwt barrels regularly off Rockall, but the ships rarely, if ever, made it that far north, due to distance and weather.

"No one checked. So we would tip the barrels into the Irish Sea, usually about 60 miles south of Holyhead," Mr Regan said.

One barrel was disposed of every 10 days from the mid-1950s until Mr Regan left the company in 1964. Windscale opened officially in 1952.

The crewmen were never told the precise nature of the cargo, but their suspicions were aroused when they were paid extra for the job.

Although this is the first time Mr Regan has gone on record, the issue was raised in the Dail several times by the Green Party, but the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources said the claims were "too vague".

Yesterday, the Minister welcomed the fact that Mr Regan had put the information in the public domain and said he had asked the Government's task force on radioactive dumping to speak with the ex-seaman, with a view to determining the exact nature, quantity and location of the materials allegedly dumped.

"I have already taken up these allegations with Britain, and we have extremely good co-operation at political, official and scientific level, particularly in the area of archival records," Dr Woods said.