Parade of Sail & Peaceful Protest Sunday Oct 3

international | environment | press release Saturday October 02, 2004 18:35 by Graham - ISNFF - Irish sea Nuclear free Flotilla

As Nuclear Freighters Skirt Irish Waters, Sailors, Musicians and Speakers Gather in Peaceful Protest on the City Quay

The ISNFF Hosts a Parade of Sail and Invites their Government and The Public to Join Them This Sunday To Celebrate a Nuclear-Free and Nuclear-Safe Future

DUBLIN – October 1, 2004 – Sailors, musicians, politicians and peace activists will come together on Dublin’s City Quay this Sunday, October 3rd, to peacefully protest the recent crossing of a plutonium shipment south of Ireland on its way to France. In light of what could be many more such shipments in the future if the Irish government does not intercede, they are asking the government and the public to join them in reaffirming and celebrating a commitment to a nuclear-free and nuclear-safe future.

The Irish Sea Nuclear Free Flotilla (ISNFF) will host the afternoon, beginning with a Parade of Sail at 2 pm, with the Eastlink Bridge going up at 3 pm for their procession upriver. At 2:30, music and talks will begin on the City Quay.

Musicians will include Mundy, Sonny Condell, Rónán Ó Snodaigh from the band Kila, and Ollie Cole from the band Turn.

Speakers will include the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Andrew Montague and Emmet Stagg TD (Lab), Leader of the Green Party Trevor Sargent TD and John Gormley TD (GP), Fergus O’Dowd TD (FG), and Arthur Morgan TD (SF). Also on hand will be Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti-War Movement, Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA), and Joe Murray of Action From Ireland (AFRI).

The ISNFF remains unimpressed with the Irish government’s talk of taking these plutonium shipments seriously. Yesterday, Trevor Sargent TD sought to ask the Dáil to clarify the government’s recent vague assurances that the nuclear freighters would not pass through Irish waters. He asked for them to specifically address whether this referred to the 12-mile, 50-mile or 200-mile limit. He also asked what contingency plan was in place in the event of accident or terrorist attack. But Sargent received no answer - the question was ruled out of order.

This highly dangerous shipment of weapons-grade plutonium is part of a joint U.S.-Russia disarmament treaty to dispose of this material by converting it into experimental plutonium and uranium mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, for commercial use in nuclear reactors that were neither designed nor built to run on this hotter and more radioactive fuel. The ISNFF opposes the commercial trafficking of nuclear material around the world to suit the purposes and profits of a few nations that profess anti-proliferation policies but do not follow them. They support sound environmental policies that call for such material to be stored onsite as waste material, as opposed to these unnecessary and inherently dangerous experimental alternatives that require global transport across land and sea.

Any boat owners interested in participating in the Parade of Sail may contact Derek Harris at 087 674 0334.

The Irish Sea Nuclear Free Flotilla is also in France supporting the Atlantic Nuclear Free Flotilla and Greenpeace, awaiting the arrival of the BNFL ships in Cherbourg, France.