British investigators have still not established what caused the 28 phosphorous incendiary bombs to be washed up on the east coast of Ireland in early June. The bombs were apparently disturbed from Beaufort's Dyke, an area of the Irish Sea between Belfast Lough and Scotland, where the British authorities dumped munitions from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, said it now appeared "most likely that the bombs did not come from directly within Beaufort's Dyke but from around about it". He said there seemed to have been "short dumping", where old munitions were dumped outside the designated area of the dyke.
He told the Dail that the British Ministry of Defence had conducted a wide-ranging review to establish whether activity in the area had disturbed the devices from the sea bed.
"Preliminary indications are that the incidents may not be attributable to particular identified activities in or near the dump-site," he said, but he was waiting for a definitive reply from the British Secretary for Defence, Mr George Robertson.
Britain's hydrographic service was now investigating whether short-dumped material, combined with particular meteorological conditions, "could have resulted in devices being washed up on the east coast".
The cost of monitoring the coast and of disposing of the devices had been "subsumed into the ongoing cost of the emergency services". Dr Woods said, however, that he would consider making an "appropriate request" to the British authorities, depending on how much more had been added to the costs of the service from dealing with these devices.
The Minister told Mr Michael Bell (Labour, Louth) during Marine Questions that he was "disappointed" that the bombs originated from the Beaufort's Dyke area, because a "management regime" for the dump-site was agreed with British ministers two years ago.
However, the Minister said he had asked the British authorities to consider other strategies for managing Beaufort's Dyke, including extending the area of restriction around the dump-site.
Mr Bell asked if the Irish authorities had carried out their own underwater investigation into what had dislodged the devices, because "we are unlikely to believe what they tell us anyway" in the light of events at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant.
Dr Woods said the cost of any further investigation of the dumpsite to ascertain its stability, or improve its management, would remain a matter for the British government.
"The management regime which is in place for Beaufort's Dyke consists of ongoing monitoring and restrictions around the dump-site for activities such as dredging, drilling, submarine activities, etc."
Mr Bell asked how long surveillance would be required on the east coast and what it was likely to cost. "Let us find out just what happened and how it happened," said Dr Woods. "The watch is continuing."