EPA order to shut down pharmaceutical firm

A Shannon-based pharmaceutical firm has been ordered to effectively shut down production in a bid to prevent or limit further air pollution.

An order issued to SIFA Ltd by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has directed the company to initiate a phased shutdown of the plant's waste-water effluent treatment plant under the 1987 Air Pollution Act.

The treatment plant is necessary to allow the chemical processes at the plant to continue. A spokeswoman for SIFA yesterday said the implementation of the measures contained in the notice would mean that the plant would have to cease production. She declined to say how long any shutdown would last.

The facility, located in the Shannon Free Zone, employs some 250 workers. The spokeswoman said: "The implications of the notice are very serious for SIFA, and the company will contest this notice vigorously and is satisfied that the notice is completely unjustified and without any proper basis."

She said the company considered the issuing of the notice as being "entirely inconsistent with the information received from this body and the approach taken by the EPA up to this point".

A spokeswoman for the EPA said the notice was issued to SIFA "due to complaints received regarding an odour from the SIFA site, and also as a result of our own investigations".

The EPA notice to SIFA also requires the company to clean out and sanitise the existing effluent-treatment chambers at the plant, and the effluent treatment plant shall be reactivated only by reseeding from a new source.

SIFA has been given an opportunity to respond to the notice in writing to the EPA.

A spokeswoman for Clare County Council said yesterday the council was aware of the order being served on SIFA.

She said the publication of the council's final report into the matter may be based on when matters between the EPA and SIFA were resolved.

The serving of the notice on SIFA is the second time in two months the EPA has taken action against the company.

In January, SIFA was served with a non-compliance notice to take steps to prevent further emissions from its plant, and warned that further enforcement action could result.

The company has operated at Shannon since 1977, and has invested €70 million, recording sales of €36 million in 2001.