#CorkHarbour - Following Marine Minister Simon Coveney's promise in May that the clean-up of the toxic waste site on Haulbowline Island 'will happen', the minister yesterday (25 July) welcomed confirmation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their decision to grant a waste licence for the remediation of the site.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Government originally signed off on a €40 million package to begin clean-up of the East Tip site on the island in Cork Harbour, the location of the former Irish Steel/Ispat plant, as far back as October 2011.

The Government was since criticised for its slow movement on the project, after the contract for the latest in a series of risk assessments was signed in April this year, despite what the Green Party's Dan Boyle said was "years of data" already collected on a site where "nothing has physically changed ... since 2011."

However, planning approval was granted in May, paving the way for the EPA's licence "in accordance with section 42(2) of the Waste Management Act 1996, (as amended) and subject to the detailed conditions attached," according to a Marine statement.

Commenting on the EPA’s confirmation, Minister Coveney said: “This decision will now enable Cork County Council – my department’s agents in this project – to commence the complex and detailed design phase of the core remediation project.

"Getting this aspect right will be crucial to the overall success of the project and ensure that the entire Haulbowline Island site can thrive and prosper into the future."

The minister said he is "determined that this project will proceed with minimal delays".

The remediation plan intends to transform Haulbowline Island into "a major civic amenity in the Cork Harbour region within a relatively short time span," Minister Coveney added.

"In the past few months alone, we have seen An Bord Pleanála grant its overall approval for the remediation project, commencement of work to repair the Haulbowline Island access bridges and now, the granting of a waste management licence by the EPA.

"The significant economic activity on the island is already bringing benefits to the local economy, gradually transforming the Island into a genuine national infrastructural asset and an integral part of the Government’s plans for Cork Harbour.”

#corkharbour – The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD today welcomed the notification from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their proposed decision to grant a waste licence for the remediation of East Tip site at Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour, in accordance with section 42(2) of the Waste Management Act 1996, (as amended) and subject to the detailed conditions attached and provisions for objections as specified.

Commenting at the proposed decision, the Minister said "I welcome the notification by the EPA of their proposal to grant this licence (subject to the twelve specific conditions attached and the provisions for objections outlined). We look forward to the EPAs final approved decision being issued in due course, while respecting the provisions for objections provided for, which should pave the way for Cork County Council to commence the detailed design and execution phase of the core remediation work at Haulbowline Island in the near future. I have been determined that this project will proceed with minimal delays and the hard work which has gone on behind the scenes by both Cork County Council and my own Department has enabled substantial progress to be made this year. The whole of Island approach adopted is now bringing rapid results. In the past few months alone, we have already seen An Bord Pleanála give its approval for the remediation project and the commencement of crucial work to repair the Haulbowline Island access Bridges. The significant construction activity on the island will bring substantial benefits to the local economy transforming the Island into a genuine national infrastructural asset and an integral part of the Government's plans for the Cork Harbour region within a relatively short time span".

The Government conveyed approval to the Minister for Agriculture. Food and the Marine for the clean-up of the former ISPAT site on Haulbowline Island in 2011. Cork County Council is acting as agent of the Minister in the remediation of the site. Key elements of the remediation plans were the planning application for works on the East Tip, lodged with An Bord Pleanála in October 2013 and the waste licence application, submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in November 2013. The approval of both planning and waste licence applications (the latter currently a proposed decision to be issued by EPA subject to provision for objections being received) has involved complex and detailed preparatory work by Cork County Council and the Department and will (when finalised) clear the way for the completion of the project over the next two to three years. Haulbowline Island is located within Cork Harbour, between Cobh to the north and Ringaskiddy to the south. The site (known as the East Tip) contains approximately 650,000m3 of steelworks waste that was deposited on sand spit over a 40 year period. Access to the Island by road is from Ringaskiddy via bridges which transverse Rocky Island.

#CorkHarbour - The Irish Examiner reports on An Bord Pleanála's approval of a €40 million scheme to turn the toxic waste dump on Haulbowline Island into a public park.

Plans for the Cork Harbour site, adjacent to the former Irish Steel/Ispat plant, are still subject to the granting of a waste licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the coming weeks.

But this week's planning approval "was a big set necessary to convince people that this clean-up will happen," said Marine Minister Simon Coveney.

Conditions attached to the planning board's decision include the declaration of a 1km monitoring zone around the site with marine mammal observer to ensure that wildlife are not disturbed by the works to make safe some 500,000 tonnes of waste, including many toxic heavy metals and cancer-causing materials. The Irish Examiner has more HERE.

Last month the Green Party's Dan Boyle criticised the Government's slow progress on dealing with the Haulbowline site after the latest in a series of risk assessments was commissioned more than 18 months after the clean-up package was signed off.

In February this year local councillors raised concerns over leaks from the toxic waste site during that month's severe weather and high tides.

#corkharbour – A statement today by the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, that a detailed quantitative risk assessment is to be undertaken for Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour is being questioned by the Green Party's Dan Boyle.

"The biggest question is, why? Several studies have already taken place. Years of data exist. A major review of these reports was commissioned five years ago by the then Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, the first time risk information was ever made available by any Irish government.

"Three years into the life of this government we seem to have nothing but a stream of press releases designed to give the impression of activity, when in reality nothing has physically changed on Haulbowline since 2011."

#haulbowline – The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney T.D. today attended the contract signing for a Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment of the former steelworks factory site on Haulbowline Island.

Commenting at the signing today the Minister said "this contract for the assessment of the former steelworks factory site moves the Haulbowline Island remediation project into a new phase and underpins the whole of island remediation approach that is now being adopted".

Cork County Council is acting as agent of the Minister for the remediation of Haulbowline Island. The contract was awarded to ARUP and is for a rigorous and robust Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment (DQRA) which will be prepared in accordance with current best practice, taking cognisance of relevant legislation, standards and guidance. Additional surface water, groundwater and gas sampling will be undertaken. All available data will be collated, analysed and interpreted and a report containing the DQRA, options appraisal and remedial solution prepared. This report will outline, in detail, the proposed remedial solution.

A planning application for works on the East Tip was lodged with An Bord Pleanála on 30th October 2013 and the waste licence application was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency on 14th November 2013.

An Bord Pleanala held a public hearing on the application on 19th March 2014 and the Bord have indicated that a decision on the application is due by 24th April2014.

#CorkHarbour - Cork County Council is investigating reports that defences built around the toxic dump on Haulhbowline Island have been breached in the recent severe weather.

According to the Irish Examiner, two Cobh-based councillors reported seeing breaches in the embankments around the dump, which contains an estimated half a million tonnes of waste - including toxic heavy metals and various cancer causing materials such as Chromium 6.

It's now feared that the recent high tides have carried toxic waste out of the site and contaminated the waters of Cork Harbour.

The council has confirmed that tests are being carried out at and around the site, next to the former Irish Steel/Ispat plant.

A full clean-up operation of the toxic dump is expected to begin later this year, though the contract for the job has not yet been awarded, pending the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency on a waste licence application and a nod from An Bord Pleanála for redevelopment of the site.

#CORK HARBOUR NEWS - The head of the team working on the clean-up of the toxic dump on Haulbowline Island says the site could be made safe by the end of 2015, as the Irish Examiner reports.

More than a year ago the Government signed off on a €40 million package to begin the clean-up of the toxic waste site at the former Irish Steel/Ispat plant in Cork Harbour, which closed more than a decade ago.

The site contains an estimated 500,000 tonnes of waste, including toxic heavy metals and various cancer causing materials such as Chromium 6.

Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney tasked Cork County Council with responsibility for managing the clean-up operation, which is scheduled to finally begin by mid-2014, according to project manager Dr Cormac Ó Súilleabháin.

In the meantime, the council must lodge an application for a waste permit licence with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Dr Ó Súilleabháin added that an analysis of the results from a risk assessment of the site in June last year had led to the conclusion that the majority of the waste should be left on the site, sealed off and topped.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

The Naval Service's Sailing Training Vessel Creidne cuts a great pose sailing in Cork Harbour on page three of the Autumn issue of Afloat. The refurbished 47-footer is now in full use by the Naval Service as a training vessel for naval personnel and is consequently a common sight sailing off the Haulbowline base.

No Sail Training Programme because of Government cut backs

Although Creidne, built in 1967, undertook a limited sail training cruise programme in 2009, the programme was shelved when Creidne became a casualty of the Government's decision to discontinue the Sail Training Scheme operated by Coiste an Asgard.  The Defence Forces have asked us to point out that the sail training programme, that took up to eight trainees, has been stopped even if the Autumn Afloat article may have given the impression that the Creidne is still carrying out this function. Apologies for any confusion.

Creidne sailing gallery here

The Government has signed off on a €40 million package to begin clean-up of the toxic waste site on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour, the Cork Independent reports.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the site at the former Irish Steel/Ispat plant - which closed a decade ago - contains an estimated 500,000 tonnes of waste, including toxic heavy metals and cancer causing materials, and has been blamed for the area's notoriety in having one of the highest cancer rates in Ireland.

The move comes after an ultimatum from the European Commission earlier this year to act on cleanup of the island.

Mary O'Leary, chair of the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) lobby group, is cautiously optimistic about the Caninet's move on the issue, but said "the proof of the pudding is in the eating".

She told the Cork Independent: “Obviously we welcome the announcement, we have been fighting for 15 years for this. It is a guarded optimism because we were promised something in 2008. We didn’t see anything then so we will see what happens here."

O'Leary has been invited to join the steering committee that will oversee the cleanup.

“It is in all our interests that a solution is found for the former Ispat site," said Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney, "and I am determined to ensure that there are no further delays in finding a solution."

The Cork Independent has more on the story HERE.

"This is going to come as an enormous relief to the people of Cobh who have quite rightly feared for the health of their community for over ten years with unchecked emissions of a carcinogenic toxin, Chromium VI, coming from an unlicenced landfill," the Ireland South MEP said in Brussels today.

"While a baseline health study has never been carried out, the National Cancer Registry of Ireland proves that the rate of cancer in Cobh is 37% higher than the national average. Furthermore, we cannot forget the environmental and economic concerns also at the fore of the Haulbowline campaign."

Haulbowline - A €40m clean up has been announced. Photo: Bob Bateman

Mr Kelly, who tirelessly lobbied for action on the site, is now hopeful that this part of his Cork constituency can look towards future economic growth with positivity: "This toxic dump is located in a very scenic part of Ireland and while it is difficult to measure its impact in monetary terms, no one can deny its existence has had a detrimental effect on Cobh's tourism potential.

"Earlier this year, the European Commission directed Irish authorities to take decisive action on the landfill within a three month timeframe under threat of court action. The warning followed a petition of over 5,000 signatures calling for immediate action, I brought before a parliamentary committee in conjunction with Cork Harbour Health pressure group," the MEP continued.

Mr Kelly believes the previous government, the EPA and Cork County Council 'passed the buck on Haulbowline in a disgraceful way'. However, with Cabinet approval of 20m in the 2012 budget and 20m in the 2013 budget due for the restoration of the area, 'it is time to look towards a brighter future for Cobh and Haulbowline Island', according to Mr Kelly.