Fears grow over plan to discharge waste from cheese factory

Residents and environmentalists are raising concerns over plans for treated waste from a cheese factory being discharged into an area of Cork harbour.

A dairy co-op plans to construct a 14km pipe to carry an estimated 290m gallons of industrial effluent through a river in east Cork as part of a production expansion project.The planning application by Dairygold Co-op refers to treated fat oil grease (fog) being deposited into East Ferry’s inner harbour at Rathcoursey through connection with an outfall pipe.

Fears were raised following the company seeking planning permission for a 10,000-tonnes capacity cheese-making factory at Mogeely near Castlemartyr. The expansion marks a major investment by Norway’s largest farmer-owned dairy co-op, TINE, to upscale its production of Jarlesberg cheese in partnership with Dairygold, who have been manufacturing the cheese for TINE since 2013.