Roche admits defeat over €5m Sellafield challenge

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche has given up hope of using international law to shut down a new reactor at the Sellafield nuclear power plant.

He confirmed the Government has finally accepted its botched €5 million legal challenge against the MOX plant is beyond rescue. In a parliamentary reply on the day before the Dáil broke for its Easter holidays, Mr Roche admitted defeat.

“Following consultations with the attorney general, the case taken by Ireland against Britain under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will not now proceed. The (European) Commission and the UNCLOS Tribunal were informed accordingly,” he said.