Drugs firm in Shannon admits to causing smell

A Shannon-based pharmaceutical company yesterday admitted in court to being the source of the odour that afflicted Shannon town over a six-month period earlier this year.

At Tulla District Court yesterday, Schwarz Pharma pleaded guilty to 13 separate summonses in a prosecution brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arising from the odour.

Judge Joseph Mangan ordered the German-owned company to pay €58,944 in fines and costs.

He fined the company €5,000 for breaches of its Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) Licence and ordered it to pay €50,000 in costs to the EPA and an additional €3,944 in legal costs.

The court heard that the source of the odour was the company's waste water treatment plant in the Shannon Free Zone.

The solicitor for Schwarz Pharma, Mr Pat Barriscale, told the court that the company has spent €1 million dealing with problems arising from the treatment plant and could spend another €1 million on a redesign of the treatment plant to the satisfaction of the EPA.

The EPA's solicitor, Mr Barry Doyle, told the court that the investigation into the cause and source of the musty odour that hung over Shannon between November 2002 and May of this year was "one of the largest ever undertaken by the agency".

Mr Doyle said that the presence of the odour resulted in 450 separate complaints to Clare County Council and 100 complaints to the EPA.

Mr Doyle said that the odour was pervasive throughout Co Clare, while the agency received complaints from the Limerick and Ennis areas.

Mr Doyle said EPA inspectors had spent 22 full days investigating the odour, which also included two separate site visits by an EPA director which, he said, was not normal procedure.

Mr Doyle said that Schwarz Pharma, previously known as SIFA, had denied at all times over a number of months that the odour was anything to do with it.

Mr Doyle said only when the company was ordered by the EPA to shut down its treatment plant in May did the smell cease in the Shannon area.

He added that the denials by Schwarz Pharma bought about the large investigation.

Mr Doyle said that smell was an overpowering one, which would leave an odour on people's clothes and in their cars. He told the court that the EPA had paid €27,000 to consultants who were drafted in to identify the source of the odour.

Mr Barriscale told the court: "I have to emphasis that there was no health risk arising from the odour. At worst, it was an unpleasant smell.

"The company at all times co-operated with the EPA. There had been no difficulties with Schwarz Pharma's licence up until this complaint. There was no question of the company hiding from its responsibilities and data supplied by the company to the EPA aided the agency in bringing the case.

"No one is absolutely sure what caused the treatment plant to be the cause of the odour. Maybe it was a mixture of chemical compounds in the treatment plant."

He added that the problem was now solved after the company had spent a vast amount of money on the matter.

After the court hearing, a Schwarz Pharma spokeswoman said that it "regrets" the breaches of its IPC licence.