Nuclear ships to pass by Irish coast
BY ROISIN DE ROSA
Does Minister Woods agree with nuclear fuel ships sailing by our coast?
``Does he? That is what I want to ask of the minister whose job it is to
protect this state, its marine and natural resources,'' says Sinn Féin's
Arthur Morgan.
Greenpeace has discovered that British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) intends to
ship nuclear fuel to Japan shortly. The shipment, apparently to be
protected from `terrorist attack' by an accompanying heavily-armed frigate,
contains MOX (Mixed Oxide), a fuel which contains both uranium and
plutonium.
BNFL has said that this shipment, which must pass right along the coast of
Ireland through St. Georges' channel, which is only 40 miles wide at
Carnsore Point, on its way across the Atlantic, sails with the agreement of
the Irish government.
``All of us here in the county know people who have cancer or who have died
of cancer. On just one road here in county Louth, every house has someone
affected,'' says Arthur Morgan. ``How can Minister Woods agree to let this
ship pass by. What gives him the right to allow it?''
Denis Maher, a spokesperson for Minister Woods' department, says ``it is not
a matter for agreement or disagreement. We would prefer that these
shipments weren't happening.'' Did the government then make a complaint
about these forthcoming shipments? ``No. That is not in question, if these
ships pass through waters adjacent to ours. We may not like it, but we have
to accept it as the de facto situation. The ships do not come into our
territorial waters, I can guarantee that.''
Territorial waters extend to some 300-350 miles offshore. Will there be
ships or observation in place to guarantee that BNFL does not adopt the
shortest passage on the convoy's way through St. George's Channel? ``No. I
know the route that they take. There is a government agreement between
ourselves, France and England that we be notified. We have been notified of
the days of sailing.''
d what days are they? People might like to know. Maher replied that he
would not be at liberty to disclose this information. ``Their job is only
to notify the proper authorities''. That does not extend, it seems, to the
people of Ireland.
So did Minister Woods agree? He didn't disagree. And in the words of
Voltaire, deciding to do nothing is to support the status quo - what Mr.
Maher calls the de facto situation.
``De facto it may be, which is just exactly why we want it changed,'' says
Arthur Morgan. `` People are dying here in Ireland just because of
Sellafield. Minister Woods clearly did not heed Alan Mullen's advice, just
before his death, `to shout it from the rooftops'.''
Shouting it might not achieve the closure of Sellafield, but at least it's
a start.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)