The Government has vowed to vigorously monitor the Sellafield MOX plant to ensure Britain "ceases to pollute the Irish Sea," and complies with this morning’s order of the UN maritime court.
Mr Joe Jacob, the Minister with responsibility for Nuclear Safety, said Ireland "welcomes" today’s order by the UN maritime court that Britain must stop the radioactive pollution of the Irish Sea.
However, he added, the Government would also be asking OSPAR - the international body which monitors radioactive pollution of the seas - to intervene.
Mr Jacob said in a statement: "We will continue to prosecute our case with vigour . . .to ensure that the United Kingdom permanently ceases to pollute the Irish Sea, subjects the MOX plant to a proper environmental assessment, and cooperates more fully with Ireland.
"We will also be proceeding to persuade the OSPAR arbitration tribunal to order the UK to disclose the information on the MOX plant that it is withholding."
Mr Jacob comments follow the ruling by the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea(ITLOS) that Britain could operate the plant if stringent anti-pollution measures were put in place.
Both Ireland and Britain have until December 17 to report back to the Tribunal on the measures
In the event that no such commitments are made, Mr Jacob said, Ireland has the right to return to the Tribunal for further instructions as early as December 18th.
"The Tribunal has decisively accepted Ireland’s rights under the convention[and] has said that these rights must be protected," Mr Jacob said.
"It has rejected both arguments of the United Kingdom, namely that no provisional measures should be ordered and Ireland should pay the UK’s costs.
" . . .We call on the United Kingdom to delay commissioning until the parties have reached agreement on measures to prevent pollution from the MOX plant, in accordance with the Tribunal’s Order."
However, Fine Gael has described the decision as "a direct hit" on the Irish people.
Speaking after the decision allowing the plant to proceed, Ms Deirdre Clune Fine Gael spokeswoman on the environment described the decision as "another direct hit on Irish people by the British government."
"The British government are clearly putting their own economic interests ahead of the health and environmental consequences of expanding Sellafield, by developing the MOX unit," Ms Clune said.
"The Irish sea will continue to be the nuclear dumping ground for the world.
"The threat of a terrorist attack has not gone away. It is one thing to press ahead with the MOX unit for economic reasons. It is quite another when the British government won't even reconsider their safety arrangements for Sellafield, in a time of threatened security.
"It is clear their only motives are monetary."
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent descirbed the decision as "unlcear" and said it is not the decision that the British government had hoped for.
"This decision is not as clear cut as it seems. It will annoy the British Government that the Tribunal believes it has jurisdiction in regard to this case. The British case was based on the premise that the ITLOS had no jurisdiction," Mr Sargeant said.
"The tribunal decision is that it is now recognised in international law that Ireland has an interest in Sellafield’s operations and the question of the pollution of the Irish sea.
He noted, however, that the decision was a "disappointment" to all who oppose the MOX plant that the decision and leaves the commissioning of MOX in the balance.
Sinn Féin Environmental spokesperson Councillor Arthur Morgan has called on the Government to continue its campagin to have the plant cloased.
"This is not the result that the Irish people wanted to hear and I would call on the government to continue the campaign to prevent the opening of the MOX plant and the closure of Sellafield itself," Mr Morgan said.
"People living along Ireland¹s East Coast will not be reassured that the British government must now provide measures to prevent pollution of the Irish sea, given their record in relation to Sellafield Nuclear Plant.
"Only last week we had the damning indictment of Sellafield with the EU Commission admitting that it is not in a position to guarantee that basic safety standards are respected at the plant.