Ireland was wrong to bypass Europe and complain to the United Nations about pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant, European judges ruled today.

The European Union member, concerned about the affect the reprocessing of radioactive waste was having on marine life in the Irish Sea, took its complaint to the UN in 2001.

It offered recommendations in an attempt to solve the long-running Anglo-Irish dispute but the European Court of Justice today found Ireland had acted inappropriately in approaching the UN.

The judges ruled the dispute should be kept within the EU’s jurisdiction, saying Ireland breached European Community laws by taking its case to the UN

They stated the European Court of Justice has exclusive jurisdiction to rule on disputes over the interpretation and application of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UN agreement Ireland cited to raise its dispute.

Martin Territt, director of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, said: "The court has cleared up an important legal point that Member States, including Ireland, must use the EU’s legal framework to settle disputes. Ireland can now bring any complaint it has to the Commission in line with the Treaties."

The judges said that Ireland, as part of the EU, had signed up the Convention and that member states should only submit a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of EC law to the Court of Justice.

The ruling added that by bringing proceedings under the dispute-settlement procedure laid down in the Convention, without having first informed and competent European Commission institutions, Ireland failed to comply with its duty of co-operation under EC Treaties.

The case was taken against Ireland by the EC. An Advocate-General at the European Court of Justice had already backed the Commission’s case that the environmental conflict over Sellafield should be tackled within the EU.

The Commission argued environmental protection was an area of joint EU legal responsibility and that Ireland should not have asked a UN body to interpret EU laws and declare Britain’s responsibilities under them.

Ireland may now be faced with massive costs over the court case.

Gay Mitchell, an Irish MEP from the Fine Gael party, said Irish citizens would now have to foot the bill for the Dublin Government’s "expensive Sellafield public relations stunt.

"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. Not only is the fact that the Government took this case to the wrong court embarrassing, demonstrating a shocking lack of judgment, but this kind of showboating by the Government will now cost the Irish taxpayer the colossal legal fees for the case, as Ireland has been ordered by the Court to pay these in the ruling today."

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