Pollution scandal - Minister cannot say site is safe

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley yesterday afternoon suggested that this paper was being used by individuals who, he expects, will be involved in a court action with his department over contracts to clean the badly contaminated Irish Steel plant site at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour.

He suggested that we published revelations about unknown quantities of the highly-toxic chemical chromium 6 — also known as hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) — as well as hydrocarbons, lead, mercury and radioactive materials dumped on the site to gain leverage for these individuals.

These are serious, and as Mr Gormley knows, utterly unfounded allegations. His was an amateur, half-cocked attempt to undermine the messenger, and amount to no more than a momentary diversion in a scandal that has run unchecked for nearly a decade. A scandal that has been the direct responsibility of Mr Gormley’s department since 2003.