Haulage firm faces hefty clean-up bill, says council

THE haulage firm at the centre of an investigation into a hazardous chemical spillage is facing a massive clean-up bill, it emerged yesterday.

Cork County Council confirmed that it will be applying the “polluter pays” principle to recoup the substantial clean-up costs from the hauler following the spillage of sulphuric acid onto the N28, near Ringaskiddy on Tuesday morning.

A council spokesman said the bill could run to tens of thousands of euro.

Mayfield-based Shorten Transport, from whose truck the four 40 gallon drums of acid fell, refused to comment yesterday.

However a spokeswoman confirmed they are cooperating with the Health and Safety Authority.

The council spokesman said he was confident the spill had been contained and that the road surface had not been very badly damaged. However, further investigations will be required to establish the full extent of the damage to the road in the coming days, he said.

The Shorten-operated truck had collected the chemicals from the Ringaskiddy-based Carbon Group for delivery to Waterford Crystal.

Carbon managing director, Brian Walsh, said Shorten was a licensed chemical hauler.

“We are quite happy with everything we did. Unfortunately this incident happened under their control,” he said.

Four Carbon employees assisted emergency services in dealing with the spillage, he said.

Meanwhile, the Green Party said the spillage, although relatively minor, was precisely the type of incident local residents fear may be a regular occurrence should the proposed national toxic waste incinerator be built in Ringaskiddy.