Sinn Féin reps meet Minister on Sellafield

Willie Clarke and Arthur Morgan

Sinn Féin Environment spokespersons Willie Clarke MLA and Arthur Morgan TD (pictured) met with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche on Tuesday at Leinster House. During the meeting they pressed the Minister to intensify Government efforts to have the Sellafield nuclear processing plant closed.

Both Willie Clarke from South Down and Arthur Morgan from Louth represent communities on the East coast where cancer statistics testify to the impact of Sellafield. At the meeting they conveyed the concerns and anger of their communities to the Minister.

Clarke said Sinn Féin has called on the Minister to convene a roundtable conference of groups, including NGOs, political parties and representatives from the Nordic countries, who are opposed to nuclear energy and in particular, the continued existence of Sellafield. Roche said he would consider the request and agreed that Sellafield represented the single biggest environmental hazard to the island of Ireland."

Morgan asked what efforts the Government was making to monitor the transport of nuclear waste in the Irish Sea and emphasised the risk of pollution such shipments pose to eastern seaboard communities.