Fallout 'a slur on Irish people'

An Irish Government minister tonight accused the state broadcaster of portraying Irish people as barbaric in a programme about an accident at the Sellafield nuclear plant.

RTE’s documentary-style drama, screened this week, used BBC-style news reports and amateur video footage from mobile phones to portray panic on Dublin’s streets as terrified residents scrambled to get out of the city.

The national broadcaster later said it logged 30 calls from viewers who believed the disaster was actually happening.

But Environment Minister Dick Roche, who is spearheading a legal bid to shut down Sellafield, said Fallout cast a slur on Irish people for portraying them as barbaric.

“I was very sad. I thought it was a very poor programme,” he said tonight.

“It was bizarre. They were suggesting there would be riots on the streets of Dublin. We have a very sophisticated society here in Ireland.”

Mr Roche recalled the public reaction to bombs in Dublin in 1974 when city dwellers rushed to assist the emergency services and volunteered to give blood.

He added: “We don’t automatically descend into barbarity. It was a slur on the Irish people.”

Fallout also showed a mini-riot at Dublin’s Busaras bus station as city dwellers jostled to board buses out of the city.

Mr Roche said RTE had the expertise to produce a world-class documentary to expose the fallacy of nuclear power and the danger of the Cumbrian plant.

“It was a huge opportunity lost,” he said.

The Irish Government is pursuing legal action at the European Court of Justice to shut down Sellafield.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today reiterated his opposition to nuclear power.

“I have never believed in the merits of it, from an environmental point of view and from an energy point of view,” he told an engineering seminar in Dublin Castle.