Fears that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could contaminate Irish shores were today dismissed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which said it was “unlikely” that remnants of the BP leak could reach Ireland via the Gulf Stream.

“Due to the distance between the Gulf of Mexico and Europe and also the nature and frequency of autumnal storms in the Atlantic Ocean, the likelihood is that the oil will disperse and evaporate in the ocean, possibly leaving “tar balls” which should sink to the bottom before reaching Ireland,” a spokeswoman for the agency said.

The Marine Institute has said that there is a “very remote” possibility that oil leaking from the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico will reach European waters.

It said it had no details on the chemical composition of the oil spilled, but in most cases the fuel evaporates into the atmosphere after some days and “the rest generally sinks to the bottom”.

Professor Mark Johnsonm, of the Environmental Change Institute at National University of Ireland Galway, said any tar balls appearing on Irish beaches as a result of the oil spill, would not be much of an increase on the tar balls already present.

"It would take months before it [the oil] would come to Ireland," he added.

The ruptured well has been gushing oil since the Transocean-owned Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and killed 11 people aboard on April 20th. To minimize the leak's environmental impact, BP is capturing as much as 24,000 barrels a day of crude using two containment systems but that is a fraction of the 35,000-60,000 barrels the US Coast Guard says is pouring from the well.