Site clean-up bill soars from €30m to €300m

THE projected cost of cleaning up the former Irish Steel/Ispat site in Cork Harbour has rocketed in recent years, from an estimated €30 million in 2004 to €300m today.

An unpublished report compiled in 2002 on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources — which has been seen by the Irish Examiner — found that the likely environmental management cost of the site would be €30m.

This included a sea wall, at a cost of €7.5m, for which planning permission was secured in order to protect the sea from pollutants, but was never built.