THE Minister for the Environment will meet residents of Cork harbour tonight to discuss the Haulbowline toxic dump scandal.
John Gormley and Cork Green party Senator Dan Boyle are expected to reassure residents that they are doing everything they can to address the situation.
Audrey Hogan and Kate Corcoran will represent the people of Ringaskiddy, while Mary Herlihy and Frank Kelleher of the Cobh Action for Clean Air campaign group will represent the townspeople of Cobh.
The residents will be accompanied by solicitor Joe Noonan, who has vast experience in environmental and planning law.
Mr Noonan represents harbour residents fighting the Indaver incinerator project, and he also represented the group which successfully opposed the Port of Cork’s super terminal proposal for Ringaskiddy.
The meeting will take place in Leinster House. Residents met last night for a final examination of the documents and reports which laid bare the vast scale and extent of dumping on Haulbowline Island revealed by the Irish Examiner last week.
“We always knew there was a mess on Haulbowline but we didn’t know the full extent until last week,” said Ms Hogan.
“I’ve only had a brief look through the reports but one thing that stuck out was the high levels of arsenic down there. The devil is always in the detail, as they say.
“People have known for years that the site is dirty but they never realised the extent of it.
“People would say: ‘Did you ever notice the slag heaps — nothing ever grows on them.’ Even a rock would have moss on it, but nothing ever grew on those slag heaps.”
Ms Hogan said residents don’t want to hear about contractual disputes between the department and contractors or subcontractors working on the island.
“That is irrelevant. We’re not saying this mess is the minister’s fault but it’s something he can fix,” she said.
But she expressed concern that as the recession hits, the Government will not come up with the estimated €300 million needed to fully clean the former steel works site.
Letters from Senator Boyle were dropped through doors in the Ringaskiddy area yesterday assuring residents that the Green Party is committed to dealing with the toxic site.
Meanwhile, Erin Brockovich is due to visit Dublin in September and it is hoped that she may visit Cork.
Irish Examiner
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