Haulbowline Public Park finally set to open

Another former dump in Cork is set to become an attractive public amenity. 

The completed Haulbowline Public Park.

A new public park is finally set to open on a remediated former steelworks dump site in Cork Harbour.

Cork County Council has signed a lease with the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine in relation to the East Tip area of Haulbowline Island which paves the way for the opening of the new park early next year.

It will mark the end of a mammoth €25m clean-up and remediation of the former steelworks dump site, which formally began almost a decade ago.

While work on the project has been largely finished since December 2018, its gates have remained closed pending the sign-off of various legal agreements.

However, foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney, who played a key role in securing the funding for the remediation project, said yesterday that he was delighted that those lease arrangements have now been agreed, and he congratulated the county council for the work.

"It will become a high-amenity community asset which will be of benefit to the people of Cork for generations to come,” he said.

Haulbowline Island was the location of Ireland’s only steelworks, which operated there between 1939 and 2001.

From the 1960s, waste from the steel production process was deposited on the Spit Bank, a shallow sand spit extending eastwards, which became known as the East Tip.

It is estimated that around 650,000 cubic metres of waste material was deposited there over a 40-year period.

While official reports said the material posed no immediate or long-term risk to human health or to the environment, a plan was prepared to finally clean up the site.

An Bord Pleanála held an oral hearing in March 2014 and planning was granted that May, with the Environmental Protection Agency granting a waste licence in July.

The bridge connecting the island to Ringaskiddy had to be strengthened to facilitate the main work, which began on the site in early 2017.

Former agriculture minister, Michael Creed, visited the site in December 2018 to mark the completion of most of the works.

The council has created 4km of harbourside walkways and a 1km circuit for joggers. It has been landscaped with over 200 trees, woodland mix planting, native mix planting, and wildflower areas. 

A number of seating areas are located at strategic points to capture key viewing points, while bird screens offer ideal wildlife observation points.