Republican News · Thursday 3 October 2002

Challenging Sellafield apologists

Arthur Morgan TD is pictured with Sinn Féin and Ógra Shinn Féin members in a picket on a conference in Dublin organised by the Royal Irish Academy.

The Academy, which describes itself as "Promoting Study in the Sciences and Humanities since 1785", held the conference, titled Making Sense of Sellafield, last Thursday, 26 September.

"The only way to make sense of Sellafield is to close it down," said Morgan. "The very title of the conference gives the game away. How can you make sense of a nonsense?

"Almost to a man, the speakers at this so-called conference are arguing for Sellafield to stay - in the teeth of widespread opposition across Ireland and Northern seaboard EU states. As long as it remains, so remains the threat to the Irish people. Sellafield does not recognise any borders. It merely spews radioactive material into the Irish Sea, affecting all our population, and BNFL plans to continue to do so for the next decade."

The conference, which was opened by Environment ministers Martin Cullen and Dermot Nesbitt, drew to a close with a session entitled "An Analysis of the risks in the event of a major accident or sabotage at Sellafield".

Sinn Féin Assembly Environment Spokesperson, Francie Molloy the previous day criticised comments from Environment Minster Dermott Nesbitt.

"Dermott Nesbitt has said that our comments on Sellafield need to based on scientific fact, not emotion," said Molloy. "His defence of Sellafield is not based on fact but instead on political ideology that puts the interests of Britain above the interests of Ireland and the safety of Irish people.

"Sellafield has an atrocious history of leaks, accidents and cover-ups. The British government has behaved arrogantly and irresponsibly and has blatantly ignored the well founded concerns of Irish citizens. There must be no letup in the campaign of Irish people, at all levels of society, against this catastrophic nuclear time bomb on our doorstep."