The Court's judgement relates to a case dating from 2001, when the Irish Government initiated legal action at the UN to attempt to stop the operation of a new mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Sellafield. Ireland raised concerns over Sellafield's environmental record and over the possibility of terrorist attacks on the plant. However, the European Commission referred Ireland's action to the EU Court, arguing that the case should be dealt with at EU rather than UN level. The Court of Justice found in favour of the European Commission, and ruled that this is a matter of EU law.
In reaction to the ruling, Irish MEP Liam Aylward (FF/UEN), a member of Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, reiterated concerns over Sellafield's safety record, and pointed out that he has raised this issue on several occasions at European level. " As recently as last year I tabled a question to the Commission regarding a major leak which occurred in Sellafield and which staff failed to identify for nine months. How could Ireland be anything other than highly suspicious of such a plant?" Mr Aylward continued by saying that "This is not the end of the road for Ireland...it is a setback, but the Irish Government will now contest the continuing operation of Sellafield through the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice."
Another Irish MEP, Gay Mitchell (FG/EPP-ED) launched an attack on the Irish Government for what he termed a case of gross incompetence. He said "Ireland was correctly found in breach of EU law by instituting proceedings before a UN tribunal, instead of before the European Court of Justice, which has legal jurisdiction. He commented that "the fact that the [Irish] Government took this case to the wrong court [is] embarrassing, demonstrating a shocking lack of judgement" and that it would cost the Irish taxpayer colossal legal fees.
Setback for Irish Government's case against Sellafield - 23 January 2006
In a setback for Irish government attempts to seek the closure of Sellafield, the European Court of Justice Advocate General Miguel Poiares Maduro has issued an opinion that Ireland breached EU law in attempting to take a case on this issue before a UN tribunal. His opinion relates to a case dating from 2001, when the Irish Government initiated legal action to attempt to stop the operation of a new mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Sellafield. Ireland raised concerns over Sellafield's environmental record and over the possibility of terrorist attacks on the plant.
The European Commission referred Ireland's action to the EU Court, arguing that the case should be dealt with at EU rather than UN level.
On Wednesday 18 January 2006, Mr Poiares Maduro issued a preliminary opinion in favour of the Commission, stating that Ireland should not have initiated UN dispute settlement proceedings against the UK without prior consultation of the European Commission.
The opinion of the Advocate General is not binding on the court (though it is upheld in the majority of cases), and a final ruling is still awaited later this year.
Political reaction
Commenting on the case, Proinsias de Rossa, Labour Party MEP for Dublin, said "While, technically, Ireland was wrong, I am disappointed that the Commission took this unnecessary legal action in the first place, particularly in view of its own inaction on the matter".
Gay Mitchell MEP (FG/EPP, Dublin) said that the Irish Government had taken "the wrong legal route", and suggested that instead of taking legal action, the Government should seek to set up a bilateral Irish-UK agency to oversee environmental and safety issues relating to Sellafield.
Environment Minister Dick Roche noted that the opinion is not a final judgement, but said that if the opinion is ultimately confirmed by the ECJ, he would be demanding stronger action from EU authorities on Sellafield. "The Irish Government will expect the Commission to exercise its competence robustly in respect of the continued operation of the Sellafield Plant" he said, "a situation which has clearly not been the case to date".
