The Government will push the British authorities to cut Sellafield's nuclear discharges into the Irish Sea, despite failing to win court access to commercially sensitive British Nuclear Fuels papers.
In its ruling, the United Nations' Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found that Ireland was entitled to challenge Sellafield's continued operation under the OSPAR Convention, which monitors pollution in the North Atlantic. The judges unanimously rejected the British argument that they lacked jurisdiction over the dispute, and, equally, they dismissed the British contention that the Irish claims were inadmissible.
Though both sides claim victory, the judges' ruling that Ireland is not entitled to secret papers examining the economic justification for Sellafield's MOX plant is a significant blow.
"If they cannot get such papers, then it raises serious questions about the value of taking a case under OSPAR, particularly when you consider that the action to date has cost each side between £2 million and £3 million sterling each," one informed source said.
The Government is now hopeful that international opposition to Sellafield's Irish Sea discharges can be heightened, particularly over emissions of the radioactive substance technetium-99 which, under current British plans, will not fall until 2006.
"People like the Norwegians get exercised about this. They are very worried about their fishing stocks. But some are fearful about taking on the British," one source told The Irish Times last night.
In the Seanad last night, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said: "Ireland will continue to press for the ending to all other discharges from Sellafield as they continue to constitute unacceptable pollution of the Irish Sea.
"There is no moral justification for the discharge of nuclear waste to the Irish Sea - not now, nor ever.
"As technology advances, there are now alternative options available for the safe disposal of this waste.
"Surely it is better that waste is treated rather than simply dumped into the sea. The horrendous knock-on damage to the marine environment is incalculable and remains so for hundreds of years," he said.
The Minister said Ireland's OSPAR legal action, conducted by the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, had managed "to establish an important international precedent".
"The United Kingdom is now accountable to an international tribunal for information it must disclose to another State under OSPAR. The possibility, therefore, of further action under OSPAR is kept open for us.
"I have little doubt that this judgment, in setting out the respective rights and obligations of the parties, will prove extremely valuable in time to come," the Minister said.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) last week ruled that formal consultation should take place between the UK and Ireland about future developments at Sellafield.
"I regard this judgment as a significant milestone, not just in terms of our case, but in terms of wider policy on Sellafield and our relationship with the United Kingdom on the Sellafield question," the Minister said.
A final ruling will be made by UNCLOS in December about whether it has jurisdiction to hear the full case, though some observers believe that it wants Ireland and the UK to take the matter before European Union courts.
Last night, the Minister said he did not accept the view of some in the European Commission that Ireland should have gone before the European Court of Justice, rather than a non-EU tribunal.
"Ireland chose the United Nations route as we recognised that route as being the quickest and most effective way of making our case," the Minister said.
