The task force report on the dumping of radioactive waste will be published, the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, promised in the Dail.

During question time on Marine matters, he told TDs that the report was at an "advanced stage" and he expected to receive the report next month. He stressed it was his intention to publish it. The task force was established last year in the wake of revelations by the British authorities that documents had come to light which showed that radioactive waste had been dumped in the Beaufort Dyke in the north Irish Sea during the 1950s.

There were also other incidents of dumping in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in other areas around the British coast.

Mr Eamon Gilmore (DL, Dun Laoghaire) asked if the Minister was aware of the Greenpeace report stating that the level of radioactive discharge from Sellafield was now higher than it had ever been and he asked what measures the Minister was taking for the protection of the Irish Sea.

Dr Woods said he had not seen the Greenpeace report but had seen reports about the "outfall" pipe from Sellafield and the danger to marine life. Those effects appeared to diminish as they came across the Irish Sea.

He stressed that the Department of Public Enterprise through the Radiological Protection Institute monitored radioactivity levels from the middle of the Irish Sea on Ireland's side to the Irish shore.

Mr Gilmore questioned the level of the co-ordinated response of the Government to the threat posed by Sellafield where radiation levels had never been higher. He said it was not clear that the task force was dealing with this issue.

Dr Woods said that it was included in the remit of the task force. He had asked the task force specifically to look at the outfall from Sellafield and its effect on marine life.

The Minister stressed the role of the Radiological Protection Institute in monitoring the effects of contamination on the Irish sea and on beaches and marine life.

Mr Michael Bell (Lab, Louth) called on the Minister to hold further meetings with the British Minister, Mr Jack Cunningham. He claimed that ministers had been misled and that last year before the election British ministers were giving "cock-and-bull" stories about Sellafield.

Dr Woods said Mr Cunningham had provided a lot of information and he might be meeting him again. He said Mr Bell should not dismiss the expertise of the Radiological Protection Institute whose employees were "of the highest calibre".

It would be "very foolish" to disregard their very comprehensive work on marine life.