AN EMPLOYEE of one of the country’s leading institutes of technology was fined €3,000 and told he was lucky that he was not going to jail after a judge heard how he had taken home empty blood bags and burned them in a barrel in his garden.
John Murphy of Coolacheesker, Kanturk, Co Cork, pleaded guilty yesterday to disposing of waste on May 12th, 2007, in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution contrary to Section 32.1 and Section 32.6 of the Waste Management Act 1996.
Judge Michael Pattwell said he was astonished at the behaviour of Mr Murphy in taking home the blood products and seeking to destroy them by burning them in a barrel given all the publicity about the environmental damage caused by burning materials.
Solicitor for Cork County Council, Kevin O’Leary, told Kanturk District Court that Cork Institute of Technology received 11 bags of blood from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) for use by students on a biomedical degree course.
The blood was used by the students during their work, but because an incinerator at the institute was broken Mr Murphy took the empty bags containing some residue to his home in Kanturk to incinerate them in a barrel in his garden.
However, not all the bags were properly destroyed and a number of the bags were taken by a dog who left them lying on the lawn of a neighbour who, upon discovering they contained blood, contacted Cork County Council, who launched an investigation.
Mr O’Leary said as a result of the rigorous procedures operated by the IBTS, Cork County Council was able to trace the bags of blood to Cork Institute of Technology.
The blood had been tested by IBTS and was negative for any infectious diseases.
Solicitor for Mr Murphy, Philip Comyn, said his client had worked at the institute for 35 years and had an unblemished record.
He had co-operated fully with Cork County Council in its investigation, and apologised for bringing the blood bags home for disposal.
Judge Pattwell said he found it difficult to understand how Mr Murphy could bring the bags home to burn in a barrel and leave it unattended as anyone knows that to burn any material properly it had to be stirred every so often to ensure it remained burning.
Burning any material in a barrel was damaging to the environment, but to try to dispose of blood products in this manner was even more shocking, said Judge Pattwell, who imposed the maximum fine of €3,000 and ordered Mr Murphy to pay €1,300 expenses and €200 costs.
Last February, Cork Institute of Technology was fined €2,000 and ordered to pay €2,600 expenses and €200 costs by Judge David Riordan at Cork District Court when it pleaded guilty to a related charge of failing to transfer control of the blood products to a an appropriate person.