Gormley accused of inaction over Haulbowline

MINISTER for the Environment John Gormley has been accused of dragging his feet over the clean-up of a major toxic dump in Cork harbour.

While on the election trail in the south, the minister said he wanted to ensure the toxic dump “is properly cleaned up” and would be shortly sending a memo to Cabinet colleagues on his plans to decontaminate the site at Haulbowline.

The cost to the taxpayer of the clean-up has been estimated at €300 million. However, Cllr John Mulvihill Snr said he was sick and tired of hearing promises and now wanted to see some action. The Labour Party candidate, who had a stand-up row with John Gormley when he visited Cobh last September, again accused the minister of dragging his feet.

“He’s promised and he’s promised since this first hit the headlines to clean it up. Several months ago he said he’d bring it before the cabinet and we’re still waiting. He has neglected the people of the lower harbour,” Mr Mulvihill said. He said Cobh has the highest cancer rates of any town in Ireland and it was imperative the toxic dump was cleaned up as soon as possible.

“We asked for a baseline health study to be carried out on the people of the area and he [Mr Gormley] did nothing about it. As far as the people living here are concerned the sooner the minister pulls his finger out and gets this done the better,” Mr Mulvihill said. The waste — which includes the second most dangerous carcinogenic chromium 6 — is situated in a lagoon on Haulbowline.

Much of it is believed to have been deposited there as residue from operations at the former Irish Steel plant.

The discovery of the waste has caused people living in the lower harbour area to worry about their health.

Mr Gormley said if the site was to be redeveloped for housing “it would have to be re-mediated to the highest level” and that the local population would have to be consulted on the future of the site. Mr Gormley also said he intended to bring a memo on the clean-up to the cabinet shortly and hoped work would start as soon as possible.

The Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) have predicted medical claims will be lodged by locals on grounds the community’s health was put at risk when the steel plant was in operation. It is believed about 112,000 tonnes of hazardous waste from the lagoon has already been shipped to Germany for disposal.

Meanwhile, the Government has been told if it doesn’t deal with the unlicensed toxic dump at Haulbowline it may end before the European Court Justice. Mr Gormley has confirmed the European Commission sent Ireland a letter of formal notice over the unlicensed storage of waste at the site of the former Irish Steel site.

The FIE, it emerged, made a formal complaint to the European Commission last year alleging potentially hazardous waste was being held there without a licence. The FIE said “national and European law require the licensing of waste, both to protect the environment and any residents exposed to potential toxic effects”.

The licensing procedure requires an environmental impact statement that will determine the conditions that should be imposed to ensure that this site is properly cleaned up. A spokesman for the FIE said if the waste was being held by any other party than the state, the Environmental Protection Agency and Cork County Council should be the first to go to court to require the holder to apply for a license.

“The state’s failure to do this has now led to this letter of formal notice from the European Commission, the first stage in legal proceedings against a member state,” the spokesman said.

He added if the Government didn’t clean up the site, proceedings would be instituted before the European Court of Justice. The court could issue fines for every extra day the waste was held without a licence. The FIE also said Ireland was currently subject to 28 environmental infringement proceedings, including five which are returning to court after a judgment against the state to seek penalties for non-compliance.