Cars damaged by factory dust emission

A HUGE dust emission from a Limerick factory damaged hundreds of cars in a number of city suburbs on Thursday night.

The incident at the Irish Cement Ltd factory in Mungret sparked a major health scare and local hospitals were put on alert.

The Health Service Executive said nobody presented at A&E departments as a result of the dust, but an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency was under way last night after parts of Raheen and Dooradoyle were blanketed by gritty dust which spewed from the cement factory at around 10.30pm.

Car owners were advised by Irish Cement to bring their cars to a designated car wash at the company’s expense. But the washing process, according to some car owners, caused further damage as the dust solidified.

Raheen resident George Corneil said his new €60,000 jeep was badly damaged.

“I took it to the garage and they told me there is a week’s work to repair the damage. If I can’t get it back like new I will be looking for a new jeep from Irish Cement. They have accepted liability. There is a lot of body damage done to my jeep,” he said.

A spokesman for Irish Cement Ltd said a leak developed in a cooler and this led to an emission of cement clinker dust, a component of cement.

“The manufacturing process was immediately shut down in accordance with procedures and we informed the EPA in accordance with our licence,” he said, adding that clinker is non-toxic and the emission presented no health risk.

Residents in Raheen and Dooradoyle claim there have been three previous similar emissions this year.

Councillor Richard Butler called on the EPA to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the Irish Cement operation to find out if they are in breach of their licence, also claiming that the grime had affected the Mid- Western Regional Hospital.

“Limerick County Council received a complaint of a similar emission three weeks ago and this complaint has been logged,” he said.