asked the Minister for Energy if he will give details of the arrangements he has made to prevent the movement of radioactive cargoes into Irish waters and Irish ports; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I have nothing to add to my reply on this matter of 20 October last.

I do not have the reply to which the Minister referred. I am sure the Minister would accept that transport of radioactive materials in and out of ports in Ireland facilitates reprocessing plants in the UK such as Sellafield. Is the agreement which he has now come to with shipping authorities a voluntary one and, if so, is he happy that it will be adequate to ensure that there is no transportation of radioactive materials into Irish waters and Irish ports? Has he any intention of making a statutory ban which would prevent these transportations?

The arrangement is a voluntary one. I am assured that it will work very satisfactorily. We intend to monitor this situation because we view with great seriousness any continuance of radioactive material coming into our ports, whether in transit to elsewhere or otherwise. It seems it is not necessary at present to consider the question of statutory requirements but I will monitor the situation as closely as possible. All the indications are that the present arrangement is working well and will work very satisfactorily in the future.

As the Deputy well knows, statutory instruments are available in many areas in which they are not capable of being implemented 100 per cent. It is not always just a question of having statutory instruments to ensure that you can succeed. Perhaps if the present arrangement can work it is the best way to proceed for the time being. It certainly is working at present and all the reports available to me are very satisfactory in that regard.

It certainly has not worked in the relatively recent past.

That is only recently.

It was discovered in the recent past that these shipments were being carried out on a regular basis. Given that the Minister views this matter with such seriousness, what difficulties are preventing him from introducing a legally binding ban on the transport of these materials, irrespective of whether he feels there may be difficulties in ensuring that it works? If there was a statutory ban on these transportations it would put the matter in a much better perspective than at present. The Minister is apparently relying on voluntary——

Brevity, please, Deputy. I want to dispose of the other questions also.

I am not sure if I can answer the Deputy in full but from a practical point of view we will deal first with the situation with regard to our ports. That seems to be one that can be monitored very closely. The second question relates to the seas around the country and we would obviously have to view that matter just as seriously. It is not just a simple matter of introducing statutory instruments. The question of policing and management is a very big one. Thirdly, I would obviously have to have discussions with the Department of the Marine.