The Minister for the Marine has offered "other development possibilities" to any west coast community willing to accept the controversial Loran C satellite mast project. The community in Loop Head, Co Clare, the original location for the mast, has strongly opposed it because of health and environmental concerns.

Mr Fahey told the Dail that while he was "not in the business of wheeling and dealing", if he could find a community willing to accept the mast, he would look at other development possibilities in its locality.

During Question Time, the Minister said it was a serious embarrassment to the Government that it was not able to meet international commitments regarding the satellite navigation system, but he told Mr Michael Finucane, Fine Gael's marine spokesman, he did not know if the State would be sued for failing to meet those obligations.

The matter was raised by Labour's marine spokesman, Mr Michael Bell, who asked what progress had been made, given that the issue had been dealt with a number of times previously in the Dail.

Mr Fahey replied "very little", because of the opposition to locating the mast at Loop Head. As a result, he was not in a position to proceed. He described it as a "very complex and sensitive matter".

On the one hand "there is the existence of a binding international commitment on the part of the State, issues to do with safety of marine navigation in our general area and whether we should or could depend in future on GPS, a radio-navigation system operated and maintained by the US". On the other hand, there were "the understandable concerns of local communities in the area of the planned site about the impact of the proposed station on them".

Mr Fahey said having looked seriously at the project he did "not accept that there are any serious health risks associated with it". He had discussed the matter with the French Minister with responsibility for the Loran C mast on the French coastline "who has undertaken to supply all of the information available to him".