Government seeking action on arms dumps on seabed

THE GOVERNMENT is pressing Britain to take action on explosives dumped on the seabed between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, met a British delegation in Dublin yesterday and asked for an outline of British government plans in Beaufort's Dyke.

The British delegation included the Agriculture Minister, Lord Lindsay, the Defence Undersecretary of State, Lord Howe, and the British ambassador, Ms Veronica Sutherland.

Mr Gilmore asked the British delegation to outline its plans, in view of the fact that Irish fishing vessels worked the grounds; canisters had been washed up on Irish beaches; and there was joint management of the Irish Sea.

Beaufort's Dyke is a deep depression, 32 miles long and 15 miles wide, on the seabed between Northern Ireland and Scotland, where munitions were dumped between the 1920s and 1976.

Mr Gilmore and the British ministers agreed that the best scientific advice was that the munitions should not be moved.

They also agreed that water quality and fish samples in the area would continue to be monitored.

Further actions, such as additional surveys, which might be considered necessary would be carried out, they said. "The way in which marine scientists and officials from both countries worked closely together on the survey must bode well for the future," Lord Lindsay said.

The final report of the explosives disposal site was published last month, following earlier surveys in November 1995 and March, May and July 1996 by the Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department of the Scottish Office.

Samples of seabed sediment and commercially-exploited fish and shellfish were collected, to determine whether dumping had caused chemical contamination. Side-scan sonar and underwater television surveys were carried out to determine the distribution and densities of the dumped munitions.

The results showed that the samples did not contain the chemical warfare agents, phosgene or mustard gas, or elemental phosphorus.

Edible fish and shellfish were also cleared.

Analysis of fish and shellfish in a wider survey area confirmed that the levels of heavy metals were within the ranges reported in commercial catches from around the British coastline, and that these levels would "not compromise public health".

The site for medium to high densities of munitions and "munitions-related materials" was identified in the report as the northeast sector of Beaufort's Dyke.

Low to medium densities of unidentified manmade debris were confirmed in two smaller areas to the west and south-west of the charted boundary of the site, while quantities of munitions were also confirmed in an area crossed by the submarine gas pipeline installed between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

It was during work on this pipeline that canisters were washed up on the Scottish, Antrim and Donegal coasts last year.

No munitions were found in the area crossed by the submarine gas pipeline between Wigtown Bay and the Republic.

Mr Oliver McMullan, a district councillor from Cushendall, Co Antrim, has consistently claimed that toxic waste, including nerve and mustard gas, was disposed of in the area.

Having campaigned on the issue for the last four years, he has repeatedly called on the British government to "tell the truth" about the level and quantity of dumping.