Ahern visits Rainbow Warrior

Bertie Ahern today made a courtesy call to the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, currently docked in Dublin ahead of the arrival in the Irish Sea of a double shipment of nuclear waste material.

Mr Ahern used the visit to reaffirm his government’s determination to take legal action aimed at forcing the closure of the nuclear waste complex at Sellafield, Cumbria.

The Rainbow Warrior is due to leave Dublin tomorrow to monitor the arrival of the two ships carrying plutonium mixed oxide – MOX – to Sellafield after being turned away by the authorities in Japan.

The Greenpeace vessel, along with a flotilla of vessels from Dublin and Arklow, will stage protests when the nuclear cargo enters the Irish Sea, a development that could come by the weekend.

The MOX is being returned after British Nuclear Fuels client in Japan refused to take the material when it emerged that safety records had been falsified.

The strength of all-round political backing for the Greenpeace line on Sellafield in Ireland will be demonstrated tomorrow, when Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, will highlight his support by attending a quayside ceremony marking the departure of the Rainbow Warrior.

Last week, Mr Ahern authorised the Defence Force’s naval service to shadow the nuclear waste ships once they arrive in the Irish Sea.