Ireland will continue to pursue the closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant in north west England, despite the latest setback at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today.
The Advocate General of the European Court of First Instance - a division of the ECJ - today found that Ireland was wrong to pursue Britain through the United Nations Tribunal of the Sea because EC law could be invoked. Therefore EU courts were the proper forum for resolution, the court found in a case taken in 2003 by the Commission.
While the opinion of the Court of First Instance is not binding, the European Court of Justice endorses its findings in the vast majority of cases.
Ireland says Britain is in breach of international environmental obligations in relation Sellafield, which reprocesses waste uranium and plutonium into mixed oxide fuel (MOX).
The Minister for the Environment Dick Roche today reminded that the opinion had yet to be endorsed and insisted that Ireland would continue all legal and diplomatic efforts to have the plant shut down.
The Advocate General said there were provisions in EU law for Ireland to address the issue and the Attorney General is studying today's opinion before advising on the next legal step.
The Energy Commission undertook to refer Britain to the ECJ over Sellafield in September 2004 but has so far failed to act - a delay that has annoyed Ireland.
Mr Roche said he would soon be meeting the EC Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini whom he would press to act against Britain. "I will leave them both in no doubt as to our expectations in this regard," Mr Roche said.
"The Irish Government will expect the Commission to exercise its competence robustly in respect of the continued operation of the Sellafield Plant, a situation which has clearly not been the case to date," he added.
The chair of the Dáil Environment Committee, Fianna Fáil's Seán Haughey, said its investigations into Sellafield would continue and it would be pressing the Government to keep the issue at the top of its agenda.
Labour MEP for Dublin Proinsias De Rossa said he was disappointed that the EC had taken the action "particularly in view of its own inaction on the matter".
He accused the EC's Energy Directorate of "double-standards when it comes to the nuclear industry".
The Green Party said the court's finding "will greatly delay our opportunity to tackle the dangers posed by the Sellafield plant".
Environment spokesperson Ciáran Cuffe said: "The European Commission appears to have succeeded in forcing Ireland to work through the European institutions.
"The problem is that the Commission favours nuclear power and will be reluctant to rap the UK Government on the fingers over the dangers posed by Sellafield."
Sinn Féin environment spokesman Arthur Morgan, who represents the constituency of Louth, where many believe Sellafield is responsible for the county's unusually high rates of Down Syndrome births, criticised the Government's strategy.
"I believe it was a huge mistake for the Government to base their entire campaign in opposition to Sellafield on this one legal initiative," he said.
The Advocate General also recommended that Ireland pay its own and the Commission's costs in taking the case to the ECJ.
Labour's Emmet Stagg also criticised the Commission saying the action it took was "unnecessary" and "inconsitent".
"On the one hand they take unnecessary legal action against Ireland for pursuing Sellafield's closure, yet on the other do absolutely nothing against British authorities for failing to comply with European nuclear safety legislation," Mr Stagg said.