Ireland faces EU fines over toxic dump site

THE Government has been given three months to take action to clean up the toxic waste site in Haulbowline or be taken to court by the European Commission.

The site, blamed for the area having one of the highest incidences of cancers in the country, has been the subject of five reports, has cost the state €50 million — mostly in legal costs — over the past 15 years, but has not been cleaned up.

A senior commission official said he agreed with local action groups, which took their case to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels.