The continuing discharge of radioactive material into the Irish Sea is a matter of "serious concern" to the Government, the Minister for the Environment has said.
Mr Martin Cullen made a statement this afternoon following reports in the Daily Telegraphrevealing radioactive contamination in smoked salmon in British supermarkets.
He said the Government will raise the issue of radioactive discharges from Sellafield into the Irish Sea at this week's OSPAR Commission meeting in Germany.
Mr Cullen said it was clear for many years that discharges from the plant at Sellafield in Cumbria result in contamination of the Irish marine environment.
Health implications of the discharges were monitored by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, which had found the consumption of sea food does not constitute a significant risk, he said.However, Mr Cullen said the Government regarded the continued operations at Sellafield as "an unacceptable threat to Ireland".
"Environmentally and economically, there is no justification for the Sellafield plant. The Government will continue to use every diplomatic and legal means open to us to bring closure to the plant."
Mr Cullen said the whole question of phasing out radioactive discharges to the marine environment was on the agenda of this week's meeting of the OSPAR Commission in Bremen, Germany. Minister of State Mr Pat The Cope Gallagher will be among the Irish delegation.
The Labour Party spokesman on nuclear safety, Mr Emmet Stagg, called on the government to join with EU partners in exerting as much pressure as possible on the British government for the immediate closure of Sellafield.He said the OSPAR conference provided the ideal opportunity to confront the British "on their repeated failure to address the catastrophic threat Sellafield poses to the environment and human life.