Roche says Sellafield ruling brings clarification

Reaction:Today's European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on Sellafield will be "very helpful", Minister for Environment Dick Roche said today.

Dick Roche

Speaking after the ruling Mr Roche said he welcomed it because it "brings clarification, within the context of the European Union, as to how, and where, you should pursue issues relating to nuclear power".

The ECJ found that Ireland broke European Union law by taking a case to a United Nations tribunal in an effort to get Britain to close the plant.

Mr Roche said the Government would be examining the judgment and will be "examining how we can move forward with this case.

"This is a very very important case. Up until now there had been ambiguity as to where you would contest such a case," he told RTÉ radio.

The Green Party called on the Government to negotiate Ireland's withdrawal from the Euratom Treaty, which was signed in 1957.

Environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe said: "In a nutshell the EU has slapped us on the wrist and told us to work within its institutions. The problem is that we signed up to the Euratom Treaty as part of our European Union obligations and that treaty supports nuclear power.

"For the Irish Government, the next step must be for us to withdraw from the Euratom Treaty. It just doesn't make sense for Ireland to be taking court cases against nuclear power on the one hand and providing funding for nuclear power under the Euratom Treaty on the other," Mr Cuffe added.

Labour's spokesman on nuclear safety, Emmet Stagg, said the ruling underlines the contradiction at the heart of the European Commission's attitude to nuclear safety.

"One moment they are issuing warnings of safety failures at the plant, yet the next they take Ireland to the European court for seeking its closure. There is a clear inconsistency in rapping British Nuclear Group on the knuckles for procedural deficiencies and pursuing cases against Ireland in international courts."

Fine Gael said Ireland must redouble its efforts to close down Sellafield nuclear plant. The party's environment spokesman, Fergus O'Dowd, said this morning's ECJ ruling was "disappointing but expected".

The Louth TD said: "Sellafield is too dangerous, too damaging and too near. Today's ruling is disappointing but not unexpected, and Ireland must now redouble its efforts in the fight against the plant.

But the European Commission office in Dublin welcomed the ECJ judgment. Martin Territt, director of the European Commission Representation here, said: "The Court has cleared up an important legal point that member states, including Ireland, must use the EU's legal framework to settle disputes.

"Ireland can now bring any complaint it has to the commission in line with the treaties."