€40m clean-up at toxic dump to create public park

An Bord Pleanála has approved an ambitious €40m remediation plan to transform one of the State’s worst environmental disaster zones into a large public park.

The decision on the 13-hectare East Tip on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour — next to the site of the former Irish Steel/Irish Ispat plant — was welcomed yesterday by Agriculture and Marine Minister Simon Coveney, who has chaired a multi-agency group tasked with overseeing the clean-up.

“This was a big step necessary to convince people that this clean-up will happen,” he said.