Navy to monitor nuclear ship without protest

Irish naval vessels and the Air Corps will be monitoring the passage of a controversial shipment of rejected nuclear fuel through the Irish Sea, but will not be participating in the protest by a flotilla of small boats against its delivery to Sellafield.

The Minister for the Environment Mr Martin Cullen said the Government did not need to send a naval ship to demonstrate its opposition to the shipment of MOX fuel, but he said "it is of the utmost importance" that protests were peaceful.

"We do not need any mavericks," he said, adding that any threat to the safety of the shipment and thus to people and the environment had to be avoided. Mr Cullen was speaking during a visit to the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, which has been docked in Dublin for more than a week.

He is the second Cabinet minister to visit the ship since it docked, and held half-an-hour of talks with Greenpeace campaigners and members of the flotilla partnership which will protest at the shipment, due in Sellafield on Sunday.

Mr Neil McCann of the flotilla partnership said it would be totally inappropriate for an Irish military ship to join the protest but would welcome a "small ambassadorial boat" representing the Government.

The Minister said this would be considered, but "we don't want to turn it into a circus. This is a serious, serious issue and we want to build an alliance of international support" against the shipment of nuclear fuels and for the closure of Sellafield.

Mr Conor Maguire, a member of the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat club who will take part in the flotilla, said those protesting were "independent people with an interest in the Irish Sea" who were concerned that if the ship "went down for any reason, that's it. The Irish Sea won't be usable for the next 10,000 years."

Mr Cullen declined to state the level of monitoring by the naval service and Air Corps, but Greenpeace campaign co-ordinator, Mr John Bowler, said the Defence Forces should ensure the ships stay "on the British side of the Irish Sea".

Ms Kay Lynch of Irish Greenpeace said "we won't impede the shipment in any way. We want a peaceful protest."

Mr Cullen rejected suggestions that politicians were "jerking the public around" by voicing their protests against Sellafield and nuclear fuels but apparently failing to do anything about it.

The Government had initiated what would be the "most significant legal action ever taken by an Irish Government" and was working politically for the closure of Sellafield. It was "absolutely pointless" for Ireland to act on its own and he had a specific job to do, to "build an international political alliance". At the earth summit in Johannesburg, five other countries including Germany and Denmark had signed up to the Irish view that there should be no place for nuclear fuel in the EU's energy partnership with the developing world.

The ship is carrying MOX fuel rods - a blend of uranium and plutonium oxides - that were rejected by a Japanese client after British Nuclear Fuels were found to have falsified quality-control records.