€61m to be spent on turning part of Haulbowline Island into a park despite warnings

The Government has committed to spending €61m on turning part of Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour into a public park, despite a report commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW), which concluded it was an unsuitable location for use as a public amenity.

A copy of the OPW report on the future use of the island, completed in May 2011, was released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act just months after preliminary work began on a project which will turn part of the site of the former Irish Steel plant into a major public amenity, with a sports field, walkways, and cycleways.

The working group was set up by the OPW in 2009 to examine the future potential of the site of a toxic waste dump, known as the East Tip, which was discovered on Haulbowline in June 2008. It felt the site was unsuitable for use either as a public amenity, housing, or industry due to “a combination of legacy issues, the security considerations of the Naval Service and the lack of necessary infrastructure.”

Instead, the working group, which included representatives from the OPW and government departments including defence, finance and environment, believed remediation work on the East Tip provided “a unique opportunity” to plan for expansion of the naval base, which had an urgent need of more berthing facilities. It concluded the best option for the future use of Haulbowline would be to allow the Naval Service to take possession of the entire island and to control all entrances by land and by sea.

However, the report also acknowledged there was merit in examining the island’s use as a location for research and development and other commercial activities, due to potential synergies with maritime activities, the Naval Service and the nearby National Maritime College of Ireland. It also accepted that potential tourism and heritage uses for the site, such as the establishment of a maritime museum, could be considered.

The OPW report said the derelict site, which constitutes much of the 84-acre island, provided “a negative visual aspect” which restricted its development for use to promote tourism. The report said any use of Haulbowline faced a number of challenges, including a lack of adequate mains water supply and wastewater infrastructure, the reliance on a single road access point, lack of public transport, security concerns, and lack of existing community facilities and services.

The Irish Examiner revealed in August that the secretary general of the Department of Agriculture warned that the €61m budget for the project would not be enough to complete plans to transform the site into a major public recreation amenity.

The OPW did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said that, following the OPW report, Simon Coveney, then agriculture minister, was tasked by the government with responsibility for submitting an application to the Environmental Protection Agency to regularise the status of the East Tip and chairing a steering committee of stakeholders to oversee the process. Cork County Council, acting as an agent for the department, developed plans for the use of the site as a public amenity area.

Haulbowline is in the ownership of the minister for agriculture, but it is intended to transfer it to the minister for defence when remediation works finish.

Government commits to spend despite OPW saying Haulbowline toxic dump is unsuitable as amenity site