An old heating system with an underground oil pipe was being blamed yesterday for a serious oil spillage from a factory owned by a large multinational company into Donegal Bay on Monday.
Up to 30,000 litres of oil leaked from the Abbott Ireland plant located close to the sea about a mile-and-a-half south of Donegal town. Most of this went into underground drains running between the plant and the coast but about 5,000 litres escaped into the sea in a small inlet at Muckros.
A major clean-up operation involving Donegal County Council, the Department of the Marine, the Irish Marine Emergency Service and specialist contractors employed by the company is likely to go on for some days.
The oil spill extended over an area measuring 100 by 50 metres at Muckros Strand but this was contained within hours of being detected. The executive chemist with Donegal County Council, Mr Donal Casey, said the clean-up operation had been helped by the tides and the prevailing onshore winds. There had been no damage to wildlife and he did not believe there would be any long-term damage to the environment.
Mr Casey said however that he had called on a number of previous occasions for all companies to get rid of underground oil pipes.
"We have had a number of incidents in the county where oil has spilled as a result of underground pipes and I have tried to raise this issue in the past. In modern systems the pipes are over the ground and all companies should replace underground systems.
"We cannot oblige companies - all we can do is strongly recommend that they do it. It should be a policy of the county. Underground pipes are subject to corrosion and when leaks occur, you don't know it until it is too late," Mr Casey said yesterday. He said he believed the pipe where the leak occurred was more than 10 years old. Abbott Ireland, which manufactures hospital products, can now be prosecuted under the Water Pollution Act 1997/8 and may also have to pay all the cost of cleaning up the area, which is likely to reach £100,000.
A local farmer first spotted the oil spill on Monday afternoon and informed the county council, which then contacted the company and other emergency services. Specialist equipment was brought to the scene to contain the spill. Three booms were placed at points across the inlet. The operation was helped by the fact that there is a very narrow entrance from the inlet into the sea.
A second road down to the strand was being built yesterday to allow heavy trucks remove contaminated silt and sand. Oil remaining in the water was being pumped out and there was a heavy stench of oil in the area. With the tide out, the entire surface of the strand was blackened with oil.
Mr Casey said it was very fortunate that the spill had been detected quickly by the local farmer because otherwise it could have spread into the bay. "There will be no effect essentially in environmental terms except in the immediate locality. We would hope to have it sorted out within a week," Mr Casey added. He said the council had received "100 per cent co-operation" from the company.
Abbott Ireland said it greatly regretted the oil spillage and would do everything possible to leave the area exactly as it was before. "We totally regret this. We have an excellent safety record and we will do everything humanly possible to put it right," Mr Sean Stewart said.
A local member of Donegal County Council, Mr Peter Kennedy, said it was "an unfortunate accident" and that he had sympathy for the company. "There is nobody more annoyed and worried about it than Abbott Ireland, because Abbott has been in this area for over 20 years and their safety record stands on its own. Nobody sets out to pollute any area or any waterways and it is just one of those things that happened," Mr Kennedy, a Fianna Fail councillor, said.