Probe into claim of toxic material used in road building

A PROBE is under way into allegations that contaminated material from the toxic Haulbowline site was used to build roads.

Cork County Council confirmed yesterday it is investigating the matter but stressed its investigation is confined to the period before 2005.

The local authority, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, jointly awarded a contract to consultants White Young Green in July of that year to carry out ground investigations on the former steelworks site in Cork harbour.

A council spokesman confirmed that since then no licence or permit for the removal for recycling of any material from the site has been issued.

He said council officials are now trawling through files in an effort to establish whether or not material was removed without a licence prior to that date, while the plant was in operation.

The investigation follows claims from Labour TD Ciarán Lynch that contractors used contaminated slag from the steelwork’s polluted East Tip dump site as road fill around the country.

He also produced a copy of a letter from the council’s chief environmental officer, dated April 1998 and headed “re Irish ISPAT Ltd”, which shows that even at that stage, the council was concerned about the reuse of the slag materials.

“We are considering how the matter of slag reuse might be progressed,” it states.

“However, deposition of slag outside of the company’s site boundaries was a breach of the European Communities (Waste) Regulations 1979 in so far as the company should not have permitted the disposal of the waste by another person in the absence of that person holding a permit from the local authority for this purpose.

“Furthermore, any movement of this waste out of the jurisdiction must be carried out in compliance with EU Regulations 259/93.

“This regulation covers the movement of all wastes between countries and is not confined to hazardous waste movement.

“Slag from iron and steel manufacture is an amber list waste under this regulation which means that approval to movements must be sought from local authorities concerned and the movement must be tracked by the relevant forms.”

Mr Lynch said this letter proves that protocols governing the removal of waste from Haulbowline were in place a decade ago.

He has written to Environment Minister John Gormley seeking clarification on whether potentially toxic material was removed for use in road construction and the quantity removed.

“A substantial quantity of slag-heap material was apparently removed from the island over the past decade — but nobody seems clear on where the material went,” said Mr Lynch.

“There are now real concerns about such material being in contact with ground water.”

He said he also wants to know whether that material was examined for toxicity and whether it was treated.

Mr Lynch said he is aware of the identities of two firms involved in road building who may have used material from Haulbowline.

One of the firms did not return phone calls when contacted by the Irish Examiner yesterday about the allegations.

Mr Lynch is planning to name them in the Dáil today.