By Owen Ryan
CLARE County Council has confirmed it is investigating claims that asbestos has been improperly disposed of at a handful of locations in parts of the Shannon Electoral Area.
This follows revelations some weeks ago that asbestos had been dumped at a number of locations around West Clare.
In a statement issued this week, the council confirmed that it is looking into complaints in the Shannon area, but that no asbestos has been found to date.
“One additional site with intact pipes which need to be removed has been identified at Clonmoney Reservoir near Shannon. A complaint regarding three additional sites in the general Shannon area is still being investigated. No asbestos material has been located at these sites yet,” the statement read.
Clare County Council has also said that clean up work is progressing in West Clare.
“Of the nine sites phase one works on four sites are substantially complete, it is expected that the phase one work on the remaining sites will be completed in the next two week.”
It is believed that one of the sites is located between Cratloe and Sixmilebridge, while another is believed to be in Shannon town. The complaints are understood to have been made some weeks ago and the investigation has been underway for some time.
Councillor PJ Ryan said that while there may be significant costs involved in rectifying the situation, there is no real alternative.
“It’s something that I’d be seriously worried about. A lot of money may have to go into the investigations but you can’t put a price on health. We are i n difficult times but someone has to take on the job and it looks like the local authority are the body through their environment section.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.