Anti-Sellafield campaign ‘ignorant’

Irish opposition to the Sellafield nuclear waste reprocessing plant was hysterical and ignorant, former British government press secretary Bernard Ingham claimed today.

Mr Ingham, a close aide of Lady Thatcher during her years in office, is now a member of the Supporters of Nuclear Energy organisation.

He said the Irish Government’s legal bid to force the closure of the newly-commissioned mixed oxide facility at Sellafield was ‘‘really very disturbing’’.

He also attacked a recent full-page advertisement in The Times newspaper by Fianna Fail spelling out its opposition to the Cumbrian nuclear complex.

Mr Ingham said that Fianna Fail had wasted its money on ‘‘an ignorant advert. When you read the advert, you realise how little they know and how hysterical it all is.

‘‘Where is the evidence? There is no evidence whatsoever that Sellafield has created, or continues to create, a health hazard through its discharges.’’

Mr Ingham added: ‘‘Why is the British government not taking action if it poses an unacceptable and unnecessary risk to our environment? Those people who are supporting the Irish cause are wrong in fact.

‘‘What I find really fascinating is that Fianna Fail have not the slightest compunction in ending the jobs of 10,000 people in west Cumbria.’’

The comments were immediately criticised by the Irish Government’s Social Community and Family Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern, whose Co Louth parliamentary constituency lies across the Irish Sea from Sellafield.

He said: ‘‘Mr Ingham is obviously an apologist for the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom and if anyone is hysterical and ignorant - particularly ignorant - it is him.

‘‘He is disregarding the views and the fears of the vast majority of the people - not just on this side of the border, but of all the people on this island.

‘‘The advice to us from our experts is that the Sellafield facility is particularly dangerous from discharges and also the risk of an explosion.’’

Mr Ahern said the advertisement had been money well spent because Fianna Fail wanted to get its message across to the British people.