Sinnott hits out at 'environmental blackspot'
Families are being exposed to toxic dust blowing from a disused mining waste dump, an Independent MEP claimed today.
Kathy Sinnott, who visited the 147-acre Gortmore Tailings Pond in Silvermines, Co Tipperary at the weekend, said it was an environmental blackspot which had been ignored by the Government.
Parts of the grass vegetation on the solidified surface has died, leaving locals in the area exposed to toxic dust laden with cadmium, lead and other carcinogenic and toxic materials.
Ms Sinnott said: “The way the grass is dying back, it’s almost like desertification. Some parts were just black, like there had been a bonfire.”
The dust blowing from the tailings pond onto surrounding farmland exceeded acceptable levels over recent months, according to monitoring results from North Tipperary County Council.
An EPA report in 1999 described the tailings pond as a continuous threat to animal and human health.
Ms Sinnott, who recently became a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, said she would raise the issue with the European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, or her successor.
The enormous tailings pond was created by the mining company Mogul Ireland, which piped liquid mining waste there until 1982.
It has an obligation under its licence to rectify the lands affected.
However, the company’s recent plan to spread organic waste on the dump, including material from urban waste water treatment plants, was rejected by locals, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Communications, Natural Resources and the Marine.
Ms Sinnott said the Government should pay for the rehabilitation of the site and then pursue Mogul for the costs.
“The local people need to go after the Government, who were supposed to protect them. It is much harder to target a private company.”
The Gortmore Environmental Action Group said it wanted a layer of impermeable material placed on the 147 acre-surface, followed by a covering of topsoil to encourage vegetation.
But Mogul Ireland is proposing a revamped version of its earlier plan to spread organic waste on the site.
The Department of Communications, Natural Resources and the Marine said negotiations were progressing "very positively" and would be completed in a number of months.
