Asbestos investigators visiting dump sites

By Peter O’Connell

CLARE County Council has appointed retired South Tipperary county manager, Ned O’Connor and retired Cork county engineer, Ned Flynn to carry out an independent investigation into the council’s dumping of asbestos at a number of sites in West Clare.
The duo have already visited the asbestos dump sites with Clare council engineers.
News of the dumping of asbestos was revealed in The Clare Champion back in March and in a statement to The Champion on Wednesday, Clare County Council said phase one of the work to remove asbestos is substantially complete.
“Tenders for phase two works are to be returned next week and then assessed by Clare County Council and then phase two works will proceed,” the statement added.
The council is unable to give an approximate timescale as to when the investigation and clean-up will be complete.
“The independent investigation is underway and it will be a matter for the investigation team to inquire into the issues in question. The timescale for the report will be dependent on the extent of work which will be required, so it is not known at present. The investigation is being undertaken by a former county manager and former county engineer from outside Clare,” the council said.
“Details of the costs are dependent on the amount of any buried material at any of the sites and this will not be known until phase one works have been completed,” the council statement pointed out.
Meanwhile, Kilkee man PJ Linnane, who lives near the Lislanaghan reservoir, one of the asbestos dump sites, met with council representatives on Wednesday, where he highlighted a further concern.
“One of the reasons for the meeting was because there are people going into the lake at the reservoir fishing, even though the council have covered it. People are still going in because it’s an amenity. The council hadn’t informed the Clare Angling Association that the site was off-limits. This morning there were two people in there fishing,” he said.
“The council said it was an oversight on their part and that they are going to put up some fencing around it, before the weekend, to try and stop people from getting in. I asked them if the site was safe and they said ‘no’,” Mr Linnane stated.
He also revealed that the Department of the Environment has issued a circular, to all local authorities, outlining the dangers of the hazardous material. “The department has used the asbestos issues in Clare as