Britain will be required from next year to notify Ireland of the dumping of any munitions in the Irish Sea, following a decision of Environment Ministers in Luxembourg yesterday, writes Patrick Smyth from Brussels.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, successfully backed an amendment by the European Parlia ment to proposals on EU co-operation over marine pollution. He insisted to fellow Ministers that member-states "should unequivocally undertake to exchange all the information available to them on dumped munitions." He also expressed serious concern about incidents arising from the dumping of munitions in European waters.
Ministers were debating a proposed Community framework for co-operation on sea dumping. MEPs had sought to strengthen the package by including a reference to "dumped munitions".