§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will540W list the number and type of oil spills or leaks which have been reported in the Irish Sea in each of the past 10 years; [47124]
(2) how many incidents of ships illegally flushing out their tanks in the Irish Sea were reported in each of the past 10 years; [47125]
(3) if he will list the number and type of radioactive pollution incidents in the Irish Sea in each of the past 30 years; [47126]
(4) if he will list the total tonnages of (a) treated and (b) untreated sewage that was pumped into the Irish Sea in each of the past 10 years; [47127]
(5) if he will list the number and type of pollution incidents on each of the rivers that flow into the Irish Sea for each of the past 10 years; [47128]
(6) if he will list the (a) type, (b) size and (c) location of known armament dumpings in the Irish Sea; [47129]
(7) if he will list the estimated total tonnage of fertilisers which were washed from the land into the Irish Sea for each of the past 10 years. [47130]
§ Angela EagleThe Digest of Environment Statistics No 19, 1997 (London, the Stationery Office, ISBN 0–11–753399–8) and the corresponding publications for earlier years set out in chapters 3 and 4 the available statistics,inter alia, on oil spills (incidents reported size, effects and costs incurred), prosecutions and convictions of ships for oil spills, urban waste water treatment plants (discharges into freshwaters, estuaries and coastal waters), water pollution incidents and prosecutions, and direct and riverine inputs (including plant nutrients) from the UK to coastal waters around the UK. Some of these statistics are for England and Wales only. None of them include statistics for the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive produces quarterly reports of incidents involving releases of radioactivity, copies of which are in the Library. No significant incidents in the Irish Sea itself can be identified.
The then Minister for the Armed Forces gave the available details of known dumping of munitions around the United Kingdom by United Kingdom organisations in a written answer on 19 January 1996, Official Report, column 842.