Coveney begins moves to make safe toxic dump

A HIGH-LEVEL taskforce met the state’s environmental watchdog yesterday in the first official step towards making safe a 500,000-tonne toxic waste dump in Cork Harbour.

Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food, Simon Coveney, who volunteered to chair the inter-departmental group, said it will result within weeks in an application by the state to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a licence to run and manage a landfill on the east side of the former Irish Steel/Irish Ispat plant in Haulbowline.

“This is very different to what was promised in the past,” Mr Coveney said, after touring the site yesterday morning.