Asbestos found in Co Cork piggery which was demolished without permission, council confirms 

According to the EPA, removing asbestos is a complex procedure which must only be done by a specialist contractor

Broken asbestos sheeting dumped among other waste. Until 1999, it was commonly used in building materials, mainly for insulation and fireproofing, and in some consumer goods. Picture: Denis Minihane

Asbestos was present in the roof of a farm building in Grenagh, Co Cork which was demolished without permission, Cork County Council has confirmed.

The council said it was alerted to the demolition of a former piggery at a farm in Grenagh on Sunday, April 13 after residents raised concerns that asbestos may have been present in the demolished building.

Those concerns had prompted the cancellation of GAA games on a neighbouring pitch on Sunday due to fears that airborne materials from the rubble of the demolished could impact on people's health. The local playground also lay empty as residents were worried about letting their children play there over any asbestos risk.

Following an inspection by the officials from the council’s environment and planning sections and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) on Monday, the council said that the demolition had taken place without permission.

On Wednesday, after a further inspection of the site by an environmental management expert working on behalf of the Council, the presence of asbestos was confirmed.

Asbestos, which is made up of long, thin fibres, is a substance which has been linked to the development of diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Until 1999, it was commonly used in building materials, mainly for insulation and fireproofing, and in some consumer goods.

It is now illegal to place asbestos or asbestos-containing products on the market, though it is often present in buildings constructed before the millennium.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), removing asbestos is a complex procedure which must only be done by a specialist contractor as asbestos waste is hazardous and "improper removal increases the risk of fibre inhalation".

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Cork County Council told the Irish Examiner that a number of risk mitigation measures are currently being put in place at the site of the demolished farm building in Grenagh.

The council says air monitors are being set up at the perimeters of the site, regular monitoring of the site is taking place to ensure no disturbance of the materials there, and there is also spraying of the material on the site to dampen it and "mitigate the risk of windblown particles".

"Cork County Council continues to correspond with the landowner on this matter in addition to the other agencies involved including the HSE, EPA and HSA," the spokesperson said.