Gormley's Sellafield response criticised

THE MINISTER for the Environment John Gormley has been criticised for his response to a recent leak at the Sellafield nuclear plant.

Labour environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy said that Mr Gormley's insistence that "the Irish Government will continue to pursue all political, diplomatic and, where necessary, legal options to secure the safe and orderly decommissioning of the Sellafield facility, sounds uncannily like replies his predecessor Dick Roche made to similar questions".

Ms Tuffy said that last week Mr Gormley had told her, in reply to a Dáil question, that the relevant UK agencies had advised the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) that around 30,000 litres of "low level liquid waste" spilled from a holding tank in Sellafield.

The Minister, she said, had gone on to say that the UK environment agency had advised the RPII that the indications were that there was no environmental impact and no additional discharges to the environment as a result.