Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan has warned of the damage caused by plastic pellet spills in the Atlantic and the vulnerability of the Irish coastline.

O’Sullivan issued her warning after a visit to Galicia, northern Spain, with Greens/EFA colleague MEP Ana Miranda to survey the environmental damage caused after over a billion plastic pellets were spilled into the Atlantic by a container ship in December.

Over 25 tonnes of pellets fell overboard from the Liberian-flagged vessel Toconao on December 8th, and the subsequent accusations of cover-up by the Galician government resulted in a march supported by environmentalists, fishers, trade unions and dozens of other groups in the city of Santiago de Compostela together recently.

O’Sullivan said the spillage is “just one larger event within the estimated 184,000 tonnes of plastic pellets washed into our oceans annually”.

Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan on the plastics march supported by environmentalists, fishers, trade unions and dozens of other groups in the city of Santiago de Compostela

The Waterford MEP, who first legislated for the elimination of micro-plastics in beauty products in the Seanad in 2017, is now a lead negotiator in the European Parliament on the Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

She says she has set her sights on “banishing the production of needless, single use plastic packaging in particular”.

O’Sullivan noted the immense efforts being made by local volunteers and environmental groups in Galicia to clean up the beach environment of the North Spanish coasts over a number of weeks.

“These plastic ‘nurdles’ are only about 5 millimetres in length, and so it is often like trying to find a needle in a haystack when they are spread out over hundreds of kilometres along the coast,” she said.

“Unfortunately though, it wasn’t very hard to spot them at any beaches we went to, alongside the more regular plastic pollution such as beverage bottles, food packaging and discarded fishing ropes,” she said.

“We’ve created a plastic monster, and in my view most people are sick of the excessive amount of plastic being produced and they want to see a change,” she said.

“From my work on the Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation however, I can see there is a massive lobby still at play here which wants to keep the status quo, where polluters can continue to pollute, all for the sake of keeping their costs down,”she said.

O’Sullivan highlighted the potential of these spills to occur off the Irish coast, and said that last week an abnormal amount of ‘nurdles’ were washing up in her hometown of Tramore, Co Waterford.

“There is potential for these ‘nurdles’ to act as sponges and soak in toxins from the sea, acting then as a poisoning agent in our oceans,” she said.

“They will linger around and eventually make their way up the food chain, eventually posing a very real human health risk as well,” she said.

She said she was continuing to work on strengthening the PPWR, and is also pushing for the implementation of a European Commission proposal for stricter safety requirements for the transport of these plastic pellets.

An Irish MEP and former Greenpeace activist has spoken of her experiences encountering the Russian military amid the controversy surrounding next week’s planned live-fire exercises within Ireland’s EEZ.

Grace O’Sullivan recalled facing a forceful response when she climbed the anchor chain of a Russian nuclear warship during an anti-nuclear protest in the 1980s.

“I was barefoot and carrying an anti-nuclear flag in an action aimed at highlighting the presence of Russian military nuclear warships in the Mediterranean Sea, close to densely populated areas,” she said.

“I was greeted with a water cannon and the crew proceeded to drop the anchor chain, attempting to submerge me.”

Acknowledging the outcome of discussions between Irish fishing industry representatives and the Russian ambassador over the planned manoeuvres 240km off the Cork coast, the Green Party MEP was blunt in her assessment of what might happen if trawlers and Russian naval vessels come into close quarters.

Grace O’Sullivan in the 1980s protesting with Greenpeace on the anchor chain of a Russian naval warship | Credit: Greenpeace

“As someone who has come face-to-face with the Russian military over my time as a Greenpeace activist, I know they would be less than welcoming if our fishers were to square up to them off our shores. I would certainly have concerns for fishers’ safety under those circumstances.”

She added: “In my view, fishers will not be welcomed by the Russian naval personnel, but I am an activist at heart and understand fishers’ desperation in trying to protect marine life in the area and fight to save their livelihoods and way of life.”

O’Sullivan said the planned naval drills and missile tests “are alarming on every front. Some reassurance has been given to fishers…that their fishing grounds will not be affected by next week’s Russian naval exercises. However, I remain gravely concerned at the potential negative impacts on the general marine environment in the area.”

And she said the concerns of the fishing fleet and environmentalists alike over the potential impact on the area’s marine wildlife are justified.

“It reflects general opposition amongst the Irish public to the militarisation of our waters, where the navies of Russia and other countries can operate without accountability,” the MEP from Tramore added.

“As a member of the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament, I will continue to oppose the militarisation of our seas as I have done for over 30 years and fight to hold militaries accountable for their detrimental impact on the marine environment and the safety of seafarers everywhere.”