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Coastal and Marine Resources Centre (CMRC)
University College Cork (UCC) 9/5/08
A new approach to coastal management in Cork Harbour was unveiled by Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs when he launched a new Management Strategy for the Harbour in Cobh, Co. Cork today (Friday, 9th May 2008). Cork Harbour is a unique resource and presents very real management challenges associated with, for example, flooding, water quality, industrial expansion, environmental protection, marina development and recreational usage. This Strategy is based on a voluntary partnership between key management agencies and local stakeholders including Port of Cork, Irish Naval Service, Local Authorities, Government Departments, Chamber of Commerce, Fáilte Ireland, community development agencies and the IDA.
Pictured at the launch of the Integrated Management Strategy for Cork Harbour were: Valerie Cummins, Director, CMRC; Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Jeremy Gault, Deputy Director, CMRC
The aim of the Strategy is to bring all those involved in the development, management and use of Cork Harbour together in a framework which encourages the integration of their interests and responsibilities to achieve common objectives in a sustainable manner. Development of the Strategy and its subsequent implementation will put Cork Harbour at the forefront of coastal management practice in Ireland.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Martin said : “What is significant about this Strategy is that it is endeavouring to pull all the strands together and, I think, if we were honest we were fragmented in the past in terms of approaching development of the Harbour.” He referred to the dramatic changes of what were iconic industrial features of the Harbour in recent times, with the closure of ISPAT and IFI. "I take up the point that the Strategy represents a historic opportunity to realise a different future of Cork Harbour which integrates the different functions of the Harbour." As a Government Minister, I wish to both promote and profile Cork Harbour as being the centre for education, training and research in relation to all things maritime,” he added.
The Strategy is the culmination of over three years work co-ordinated by the Coastal & Marine Resources Centre (CMRC), University College Cork and the Planning Policy Unit in Cork County Council as part of an EU Interreg Project, COREPOINT (Coastal Research & Policy Integration).
Commenting on the launch, Jeremy Gault, Deputy Director CMRC & Corepoint Project Manager, expressed his delight that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had agreed to launch the Strategy which is of relevance to anyone with an interest in the sustainable management of Cork Harbour. He said: "Producing the strategy has been an exhausting but worthwhile task that would not have been possible without the support of the joint co-ordinators of the Planning Policy Unit of Cork County Council." He paid tribute to the members of the Cork Harbour Forum and the Strategic Advisory Group for their time, energy and commitment in bringing this Management Strategy to fruition.
In addition to the Strategy, an Action Plan will be developed for the period 2008 to 2011 based on priorities identified from this Strategy document. This will form the next step in the implementation process and funding has already been secured to facilitate this through an additional EU project.
To obtain a copy of the Strategy document, please contact the CMRC, tel. 021 4703100 or visit http://www.corkharbour.ie/
Downloads
Executive Summary
Strategy Document
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Cork County Council 2/10/07
Demolition of the steelworks was completed in the first quarter of 2007. Steel, concrete and masonry structures across the site were razed, the main exception being the 19th century stone buidings which are National Monuments. In the aftermath, numerous piles of demolition residues were scattered across the site, and a specification was prepared for a full surface clearance. A contract for this clearance was signed by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government with Hammond Lane Metal Company in August. Work has now commenced and will last several months. There will be a strong emphasis in this phase on recycling as much material as possible, and concrete and masonry will be crushed and stockpiled or used to back-fill surface pits. Residual waste will be removed from site in compliance with environmental regulations.
The clearance contract also covers the removal of assorted steelworks waste from the surface and margins of the tiphead on the east side of Haulbowline. Separately, an environmental contractor is progressively removing a large pile of millscale (iron oxide) from the north of the tip. This material has been screened to extract metallic and other inclusions and is being shipped to Scandinavia for recycling. However, slag heaps will remain in situ for the time being, pending decisions on remediation and development.
Of the set of six stone buildings straddling the steelworks site and the Naval Base, two are on the steelworks site and in generally poor condition. Work is in hand to protect these structures, in particular the building damaged in the fire of January 2001. This building has now been cleared, leaving the original 19th century structure. A temporary roof is to be installed to allow the building to dry out.
During the ground investigation in the autumn of 2005 a number of boreholes were sunk across the main site and the tiphead. Intermittent monitoring of some of these is being carried out at intervals to watch for any changes in ground condition with time. Borehole water levels have also been tracked to observe the extent of tidal influence.
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Dust problem at Passage West
By Leo McMahon
Southern Star (Passage West/Monkstown News) 23/9/08
A meeting between residents, town councillors and environmental and enforcement officials from Cork County Council was agreed following a deputation from Mr. Joe Snow to the September meeting of Passage West Town Council to highlight the problem of dust emissions from the local dockyard.
Standing orders were suspended on a proposal by Mayor Dominick Donnelly to allow Mr. Snow, a former town councillor who resides near the dockyard, to address the meeting on behalf of affected residents.
He stated that a huge bulk carrier ship with animal feed arrived at the dockyard at 7pm Wednesday, August 22 and by time it had unloaded its cargo and departed on Monday, August 27, there was what described as serious pollution over a wide area.
"Several houses, including my own, had to be power washed down," said Mr. Snow who pointed out that the problems of air pollution from dust and noise was going on for the past 26 years. Dust was caused by aninal feed, coal, briquettes. There was also noise and exhausts from cranes, lorries and boats. Overall, it was an appalling situation, indeed worse, he contended sinced the dockyard was again storing and loading scrap metal following the closure of Ispat (Irish Steel), Haulbowline.
He voiced strong crticism of the county council for a situation in which there were totally inadequate planning conditions attached to operations in the dockyard including the large number of heavy goods vehicles which could luse the site daily. He further stated that he could produce records and submitted newspaper reports to show that enforcement regarding air monitoring, wind speed, noise and was not taking place.
With a major and welcome residential and commercial waterfront development planned for the dockyard involving the company on site and a previous planning application by the latter for a jetty, there were conditions which the county council could enforce, especially as port activity was likely to continue for some time, and affected residents were demanding this, said Mr. Snow.
As a councillor back in 2004, he and fellow members met with senior environmental officials in the county council and the company about the ongoing problems and the latter undertook to install two more water sprayers. Since then, he claimed, the problem of emissions had continued on all sides of the dockyard site and in his opinion the sprayers were "a joke" and ineffective at a section of harbour where there was a tidal difference of around 14 feet.
"One way or the other, the present situation must be dealt with urgently and a quality of life restored to the residents who have suffered for 26 years" he stated. Ultimately, dockyard operations would have to relocate because efforts to control over wind, the noise from generators, the volume of heavy traffic, dust or pollution had failed resulting in debris on cars, properties, roads and gardens up to 450 metres away necessitating power washing of dwellings on numerous occasions in some instances.
Town councillors unanimously supported Mr. Snow's request for a meeting to be arranged between themselves, senior officials in County Hall and residents.
Mr. Michael Murphy said the environmental department should be told the water sprayers were a waste of time. Mr. Jim Murphy said he saw for himself, during the recent visit of a ship, the dust on the street at Ferry Point and said he didn't know how people could get to sleep with the noise at all hours. Ms. Jo. Kelleher, a resident of Glenbrook Wharf, said this relatively new development was due to be repainted but was recently covered in dust as were cars.
Both Mr. John Daly and Ms. Marcia D'Alton queried the level of monitoring being carried out by County Hall officials and what data was available. Mr. Snow said he had dealt with ten chief environmental officers over the past 26 years and the problem was as bad as ever for the residents he had been asked to represent.
Mr. J. Murphy formally proposed that the meeting, as sought by Mr. Snow, be held as soon as possible, Ms. D'Alton seconded and it was unanimously agreed with Mr. Donnelly remarking "enough is enough".
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Cork County Council 2/10/06
The last major structure remaining on the steelworks site, the former furnace building, was demolished on September 14th. The contractor had fastened anchor chains at crane-rail level on the east side and pre-weakened the building by hinge-cutting the stanchions on both east and west sides. The chains were connected by wire ropes to heavy excavators which then pulled the building over in an easterly direction.
As the building collapsed there was a bellows effect which blew out the dust on the roof trusses. This was the one area of the buildings which had not been vacuum-cleaned due to difficulty of access and the risk of working at height. Due to choice of favourable wind conditions, the dust cloud dispersed to the south of Haulbowline. One of the air quality monitors installed in the Naval Base recorded a temporary PM-10 level of 290 micrograms per cubic metre, but the daily average for September 14th (34mcg/cu.m.) was well below the guideline of 50mcg/cu.m.
The contractor is now cutting up the building for scrap, including the two gantry cranes which came down with the building. It is expected that a shipment of scrap metal will be followed by a shipment of dust and refractory which will be exported to hazardous waste landfill on the continent. This will free up the remaining warehouses for demolition, and the site will be cleared of remaining metallics. A tentative date for the completion of the steelwork demolition contract is mid-November.
A number of concrete and masonry structures will remain above ground, and it is intended that these will be demolished in the near future.
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Barry Roche - Southern Correspondent
The Irish Times 22/8/05
The Ispat site crumbled latterly under lack of investment, poor safety and falling global steel prices, writes Barry Roche.
This week's start of the clean-up operation of the former Irish Ispat plant on Haulbowline in Cork Harbour marks the first step in the process of rehabilitation of the island, after over 60 years as the home of Ireland's heaviest industrial activity.
Originally opened in August 1939 as Irish Steel Ltd at a cost of £500,000, the privately-owned firm went into receivership in 1946. A year later, the Government purchased the company's assets and nationalised the industry to secure some 240 jobs. The 1960s saw boom times at Irish Steel with new furnaces allowing production increase to seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with staff numbers rising to a peak of 1,200 in 1971. Then the economic crisis of 1973 triggered the start of turbulent times for the plant.
The Government had already invested some £65 million in the plant to prepare it for increasing competition, but the collapse of steel prices in Europe in the 1980s led to further hardships and staff numbers at the plant were progressively cut back from 650. Throughout the 1980s, the plant was beset with difficulties. Workers accepted a pay freeze in 1986 before recording a £2 million profit in 1989 - only for the company to record losses in the 1990s, leading to further rationalisation and job cuts.
Eventually, in 1996, the State wrote off debts of £27.5 million and sold Irish Steel to Indian company Ispat International Group for £1. This was on the understanding that £30 million would be invested in the plant and its 330 jobs would be secured under a five-year plan. Steel prices dropped on the world market and sales fell to their lowest level in 10 years but, in 1998, Irish Ispat - as the new company was called - broke even for the first time in 10 years. But sales fell again in 1999 when the company lost £1.8 million.
In May 2001, Irish Ispat sought a 10 per cent pay cut from staff, while it also sought to increase annual production to 420,000 tonnes - 70,000 tonnes more than its previous highest output - in order for the plant to survive.
But on June 15th, 2001, just days after the terms of its five-year deal with the Government expired, Irish Ispat announced it was closing the plant with accumulated losses of £10 million and losses running at an unsustainable £750,000 a month. The closure led to the loss of 400 jobs, while Irish Ispat also left debts of £45 million - including £23.7 million it claimed it owed to its parent company Ispat International, as well as £4.2 million owed to workers. Irish Ispat's tenure at Haulbowline was marked by controversy, with the firm failing to invest in the plant as it had promised when it took over Irish Steel. It also sold off land in Ringaskiddy just prior to closure, which led to accusations of asset-stripping.
Irish Ispat's ownership of the plant was also marked by tragedy. In April 1999, Cobh man John Murphy died when he fell from the gantry of a crane, while in March 2001, a British engineer suffered massive burns when he was electrocuted and died some weeks later. In January 2001, lab technician Thomas Mulcahy lost his life in a fire at the plant's administrative block. An inquest heard the building had no fire alarms, sprinklers or fire escapes, and that the company's fire engine failed to start because of a flat battery.
Siptu revealed a proposal to set up a safety committee was vetoed by Irish Ispat, while former plant safety manager Brian Purcell revealed that he had been refused a budget - estimated at €15,000 - to introduce a better fire-safety training regime.
Irish Ispat had applied for an integrated pollution control (IPC) licence in 1999 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This followed years of lobbying by environmentalists who had campaigned for tighter controls on emissions from the ageing steel plant.
In March 2001, the EPA issued a draft IPC licence with some 15 conditions attached, relating to emissions, noise and waste management, but Irish Ispat closed the plant before ever implementing any of these. Indeed, the company cited the conditions as one of the factors in its decision to close and, after the EPA failed in a court bid in July 2004 to oblige the liquidator, Ray Jackson, to fund the clean-up, the State has now been left to foot the €30 million clean-up bill.
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RTÉ News 18/8/05
Demolition work is due to start next week on the derelict Ispat steel plant in Cork harbour as part of a year-long project to rehabilitate the area. The contractors, Hammond Lane Metal, are expected to collect up to 15,000 tonnes of scrap metal from the site which will be exported by ship to mills in Europe. The demolition and scrapping process will take place in tandem with work which started last week to determine contamination levels. Estimates have put the cost of a clean-up at approximately €30m.
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By Eoin English
Irish Examiner 12/8/05
ENVIRONMENTAL engineers moved onto the site of the former Irish Steel factory on Haulbowline Island in Cobh, Co Cork, yesterday to begin the largest industrial clean-up in the history of the State.Consultants working for Cork County Council removed over 80,000 tonnes of hazardous and radioactive materials from the site last year. However, thousands of tonnes of waste material still has to be removed.
More than 60 trial pits and bore holes will be sunk on the island site by staff from White Young Green consultants over the coming weeks to test the ground for contamination. Four holes will be drilled offshore to test the seabed to establish what levels of toxic material from the plant's east tip head have leached into Cork harbour. Air quality monitoring stations have been set up on Haulbowline in Cobh and south of the Haulbowline bridge to monitor dust levels during testing.
"The survey, which is expected to take up to two months, will give us an idea of what work needs to be done to make the 20-acre plus site safe," said Donal Hogan, project manager with White Young Green.
His team will carry out a comprehensive chemical analysis on all their samples later in the year to check for contaminants. The findings will be analysed and a final report will be presented to Cork County Council around November. "It will suggest a range of possible future uses for the entire steelworks site," Mr Hogan said.
The taxpayer will have to foot the clean-up bill, which could top €30 million. But the Green Party said it fears the bill could rise close to €70m.
The team spent yesterday afternoon touring the crumbling steelworks buildings and tip head where thousands of tonnes of slag material, some piled over 50 feet high, are dumped. The derelict factory, which at its peak in 1971 employed more than 1,200 people, will be their base for the next three months.
Mr Hogan said work on the major ground surveys will begin on Monday. The former steelworks has been exposed to a wide range of raw materials and waste products associated with the steel-making process over the last 60 years.
Consultants working for Cork County Council removed over 80,000 tonnes of hazardous and radioactive materials from the site last year. It included over 300 one-tonne bags of toxic furnace dust and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The plant closed in 2001 after more than 50 years of production with the loss of more than 440 jobs. Three council staff monitor the site on a day-to-day basis.
Tarnished steel - Irish Steel history:
1939: Founded as a private company.
1946: Went into receivership.
1947: Company was nationalised and went on to become the prince of Irish heavy industry.
1980s and 90s: The State was repeatedly forced to bail the company out, pumping over £200 million into the flagging operation.
1995: The Rainbow Coalition government offloaded Irish Steel to Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal for £1. He promised significant investment and a turnaround in the plant's fortunes. Irish Steel became Irish Ispat but the losses continued.
June 2001: Mittal shut the plant down, leaving 450 people without jobs and an estimated €30m environmental clean-up bill.
July 2004: The State failed in a court bid to have the Irish Ispat liquidator meet the clean-up costs, leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill.
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