Northern Ireland

Key power cable almost scuppered by concerns of munitions dumped in North Channel

A POWER cable between the Antrim coast and Scotland was almost scuppered amid concerns about the amount of munitions dumped in and around a deep trench in the North Channel.

The Moyle Interconnector Project - partly backed by European Union funding - was strongly supported by Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew.

A report from the European Parliament found that the interconnector would ensure reduced emissions, lower electricity costs through access to the competitive British market and provide greater security of supply.

Files from 1996 show that, just as the EU funding had been agreed, the Republic's Minister of State for the Marine, Eamon Gilmore, raised concerns about the dumping of munitions in Beaufort's Dyke – a 32-mile-long trench in the channel.

The British Ministry of Defence dumped tonnes of munitions in the dyke between the 1920s and 1976.

An Irish Times story in October 1996, which quoted a draft report by the British and Irish governments, said weapons had been dumped well outside the dyke.

The story prompted a memo from Stormont's Department for Economic Development to Northern Ireland minister Baroness Denton.

The memo stated that a survey of the dyke, completed by the Scottish Office in March 1996, found that "low to medium densities of dumped munitions were found in an area crossed by the proposed interconnector".

However, it added that an independent survey north of Beaufort’s Dyke, commissioned by Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), found that munitions experts did not find any items which would pose a risk.

The interconnector was later completed.

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