Investigation sought into potential contamination outside Cork

A CLAIM has been made that allegedly toxic waste from the former Irish Ispat site could have contaminated a wider area than Cork harbour, as some of it was transported by lorry to Dublin for export.

Standing orders were suspended at Cork County Council’s annual general meeting yesterday when Cobh-based Cllr John Mulvihill (Lab) asked council officials to investigate the claim. Mr Mulvihill, who once worked at the Irish Steel plant, said he’d been told that some material was taken by lorries to Dublin port and he wanted to know if this was true.

“If so, the dust from this second most carcinogenic substance could have been spread around the country,” Mr Mulvihill said.

He added that in the meantime the people living in Cobh were “frightened out of their wits” by reports in the media that the highly toxic chromium 6 was at the site.

Mr Mulvihill said he wanted the Department of Health to carry out checks on all the people living in the harbour area and the publication of all consultants’ reports dealing with what had been found at the site.

He was supported by Cllr Martin Hallinan who described the secrecy surrounding the site as being scandalous.

“Where was the EPA and the county council when all this was going on? How can the public have any confidence in the authorities who are spending more effort in passing the buck than solving the problem,” the Sinn Féin councillor said.

He added that there had been a number of unexplained cancers in the area over the years and that he’d been inundated with calls from worried locals.

The leader of Fianna Fáil on the council, Cllr Alan Coleman, wanted to know if there was a cover-up by the Department of the Environment, which is directly responsible for the site.

“ The time for talking is over, what we need is action,” Cllr Noel Collins (Ind) added.

County manager Martin Riordan said there had been “no cover-up” and maintained that people’s fears about their health would be allayed in the coming days.

He said the site was taken into State control in June 2003, and since then the State and the EPA were trying to resolve the situation.

“This is being done in a very controlled manner,” Mr Riordan said.

The manager added that he was quite willing to pass on Mr Mulvihill’s request to have the White, Young and Green report on the site published.

He also promised to check out if lorries transported waste to Dublin and again pass on a request for a health audit to be undertaken among the local population.

“The fact of the matter is that we have highly toxic waste in the middle of Cork harbour. We want all the reports compiled by the department published,” Mr Mulvihill added.