Road firm used Haulbowline material

A LEADING road building company confirmed last night that it used material from the toxic Haulbowline site for several projects in Cork.

However, Colas, the French company that owns Naas-based Road Maintenance Services (RMS) Ltd, which in turn has an office in Mallow, said the material from the former steel works site in Cork harbour was not contaminated.

Colas spokesman Liam Talbott confirmed its subsidiary, RMS, purchased a quantity of “chip” from the site between 1999 and 2001 when Irish Ispat was operating the steel plant. Ispat went into liquidation in 2001. The raw material for the glass-like chips was a byproduct of the steel-making process.