Extra €20m for Haulbowline Island clean-up

The Government has sanctioned an extra €20m for the clean-up of Haulbowline Island and its toxic waste dump in Cork Harbour, bringing to some €61m the total amount now set aside for the project.

The decision to commit extra funding was signed off by the Cabinet yesterday.

However, Simon Coveney, the agriculture and and marine minister, who secured the funding, has effectively ruled out any further legal efforts to pursue Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire whose company’s steel-making operation contributed to the environmental disaster on the site.