Lismore Councillor Concerned Over Youghal Hazardous Waste Application.
By Christy Parker

LISMORE TOWN COUNCILLOR BERNARD LEDDY wants Waterford’s local authorities to oppose the planning permission granted to sludge drying plant Eras Eco Ltd to process hazardous waste in at Foxhole in Youghal. Cork County Council granted the permission to upgrade the plant to facilitate toxic waste treatment last June in a decision that was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Youghal Chamber of Tourism and Commerce. That appeal is now currently on hold as the Bord investigates whether the original application should have been made under the Strategic Structure Development Act.  ERAS ECO Ltd is solely owned by Ormonde Organics, based at Killowen, Portlaw, Co. Waterford, Ireland.

Cllr Leddy told September’s Town Council meeting that the plant’s intended new technology  -AquaCritox- involving super critical water oxidation, was “absolutely cutting edge technology” of ‘Star Trek’ consideration. He said it might very well be the future of waste treatment with the added bonus of it being an Irish company’s development (Cork-based Super Critical Fluids International- SCFI). The location was the problem, however.

Rhine disaster

The councillor was unhappy with the company’s declared intention to store and treat hazardous waste in a site adjacent to the Blackwater and, by inference, with relevance to Co. Waterford. He cited arsenic, cyanide, hydrofluoric acid, sodium, potassium hydroxide, barium, ammonia, as the beginning of a lengthy list of chemicals the company hoped to treat (some of which are already being processed under its existing licence). “What amazes me is that Cork County Council could allow planning permission for processing this type of material at the mouth of one of the finest salmon rivers in Europe!,” he proceeded. “Because the potential for a major pollution in the river such as happened in the Rhine in 1986 will always be there.”

The councillor then said that the SCFI’s promotional material cites “50,000 people” as necessary to run a pilot scheme  for the treatment of human waste alone, while “Youghal’s population is about 6,500” and that “500,000 to 1½ million people” would be needed to make it commercially viable.  He wondered from where the material would come and by what means. “The Rhine disaster was an absolute accident,” he elaborated, “and if this is allowed to continue, then I believe this is another one waiting to happen.”

Cllr Leddy said County Waterford tourism alone, as pertaining to the Blackwater, merited local authorities in the region registering their concerns to Cork County Council. He then urged that local authorities in county register their interest. Cllr John Heneghan said he would like to know Youghal Town Council’s vies on the matter, while Cllr Leddy agreed to table a motion proper on the issue for October’s meeting.

LISMORE TOWN COUNCIL is writing to the regional roads authority in Tramore in search of a ‘logical explanation as to why the National Roads Authority write road surface signs upside down!’ The move follows the failure by the NRA to respond to an earlier request for information at the behest of Cllr Bernard Leddy at last November’s meeting.

The councillor was exasperated by ‘incorrect use the English language’ as exemplified by such notices as:  ‘Stop To Prepare’ when read from the top down. He cited ‘Ahead Entrance Concealed’ as a more recent manifestation.

Town Clerk Karen Hallahan said her inquires failed to find any reference to protocol within NRA generated literature but that the road signage does conform to “national standards.” Cllr Leddy said the methodology was unknown on the Continent and argued that a driver without English as their first language could have come to grief by they had deciphered the message! The town clerk’s suggestion that the regional offices be asked to comment, rather than repeating the exercise with the NRA, was accepted.