Two British ships carrying 140 kg of weapons-grade plutonium from the US will not enter
Irish territorial waters tomorrow as claimed by Greenpeace, the Department of the Environment said today.
A spokeswoman said it had sought and received assurances that the ships "would not be passing through Irish waters."
She confirmed the ships will be travelling off the south coast of Ireland tomorrow but was unable to say how their progress would monitored to ensure it does not breach Ireland's 200-mile economic exclusion zone.
At a press conference in Paris yesterday, Mr Shaun Burnie, nuclear campaign co-ordinator for Greenpeace International, said the ships "would breach the exclusion zone and the first point would be about 80 miles south of Cork."
The Pacific Pintail and the Teal belong to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Although one is a decoy, both are heavily armed with 30mm guns and each has 13 British commandos on board.