The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating the dumping of 1,000 tonnes of bone dust in a sand pit in Co Limerick..
The EPA was alerted to the problem by Mr John Sheehan, an environment official with Limerick County Council. He said that Mr Noel Nicholas, manager of Dromkeen Food Ingredients, a Co Limerick rendering company, had admitted dumping about 1,000 tonnes of calcium phosphate at a sand and gravel quarry in Montpelier, Castleconnell, up to December 1999. The area is drained by the Shannon.
Yesterday Mr Nicholas said the product was wholly safe.
Calcium phosphate is a by-product of bone after its marrow has been extracted. Normally, it would form an ingredient of animal feed.
Mr Nicholas said the substance was a food-grade substance used in the pharmaceutical, food, ceramic and fertiliser industries. The product "as stated by Limerick County Council is wholly safe and cannot cause harm to either the water supply or to persons coming in contact with it.
"There is no restriction on the use of the product for land application or animal feedstuffs," he said in a statement.
However, the company does not have a licence for dumping the substance at Montpelier and could leave itself open to prosecution.
Mr Larry Kavanagh, an administrator in the EPA's licensing section, said samples and photographs had been taken at the quarry after the agency was informed the dumping had occurred on the site up to December 1999.
Mr Kieran O'Brien, the EPA's regional manager for the southwest, added that details of the investigation could not be discussed.
A Department of Agriculture vet, Mr Michael O'Brien, inspected the site last month on the invitation of Mr Nicholas.
Mr O'Brien said that Mr Nicholas had mentioned to him that the dumping of the substance was not prohibited by the Department of Agriculture.
The quarry site is owned by a third party and, according to Mr O'Brien, the calcium phosphate dump was covered with soil.