Macroom Mills Farm Ltd, the company named by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday as being responsible for one of the biggest fish kills in Munster, had applied for an Integrated Pollution Control licence last April. Last Friday evening, pig slurry from one of the company's units, at Grenagh, in north Cork, about 30 miles away from its headquarters in Macroom, made its way into the Martin and Shournagh rivers and by the weekend, some 100,000 young trout and salmon parr were dead. The EPA told The Irish Times last evening the company did not notify it on Friday that a serious pollution incident had occurred although it is required to do so.
Mr John Quinlan, a director of the company, said he deeply regretted the incident, but he had believed that while his company's licence application was being processed, it was not duty-bound to report such incidents to the EPA.
It is understood that an unnamed sub-contractor, who is now also under scrutiny by the EPA, was responsible for the pig slurry making its way into the river. The South Western Regional Fisheries Board and the EPA are now considering prosecutions against both the company and its sub-contractor.
Mr Iain MacLean, a director of the EPA, said the incident was so serious that the agency would have to look once again at the licence application. "Obviously, we will have to look at all the facts concerning the application, and if there's a problem that we should consider, then we will consider it. "It would be too early to make a judgment on the case, but we will have to wait for all the facts to come in. It is clear that because this incident at one point threatened the water supply to Cork city, we will also have to take that into account."
Mr MacLean said that unless the licence application by the Macroom company was blocked, it could be granted within two months. However, given the latest pollution incident, this could change. Mr Quinlan issued a statement last evening apologising for the incident. He said the cause and extent of the pollution was still under investigation and that his company had engaged an engineer as well as a marine biologist to examine the situation. In two years of operation, he added, the company had had no problems with slurry disposal or collection.
Mr Quinlan said the company would now take steps to ensure spillages would not occur again. "We have taken great care in installing facilities and procedures. The authorities concerned were notified as soon as possible after we became aware of the spillage and the company wishes to apologise for its initial failure to notify the EPA - an obligation it believed followed the granting of the Integrated Pollution Control licence."
Mr Quinlan also added that his company was co-operating fully with the authorities in putting better procedures in place.
Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said yesterday the EPA had not found out about the fish kill until Monday and called on the Government to ensure that the agency was resourced adequately to ensure it operated an around-the-clock service. "Environmental disasters can happen at any hour of the day or night and we need an agency to react immediately. At the moment we're dealing with a lame duck agency."