In the seven years I have been in this House, I have raised this matter more often than any other. That is an indication of the long running nature of the problem, how difficult it has been to make progress and how frustrating attempts to sort out the remediation of the tailings pond and other abandoned mine sites in the Silvermines area have become.
The tailings pond is 147 acres of tailings left over by Mogul Ireland when it finished work in 1982. It is not the only mine site in the State but it is the largest and has caused the most difficulties. Reports by consultants, experts and an interagency group chaired by the Department of Agriculture and Food concluded that other sites were more toxic but that the tailings pond poses a very direct threat to people living in the area because dust blows off it into the air and on to surrounding land.
While there has been progress involving the EPA, Teagasc, the local authority and the Departments of Agriculture and Food and Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, it has been slow and has now reached a point where it will be difficult to advance.
On 28 June, a technical plan was due to have been lodged with the Department by Mogul Ireland to fulfil its responsibilities to the community and the State under clause (k) of the mining lease for the area. There is still no sign of that report. That is only one indication of the level of difficulty the community and State agencies are having with Mogul Ireland in getting it to face up to its responsibilities, short and long-term.
The long-term plan would be for the rehabilitation of the site but the short-term situation is of great concern and I am seeking answers about it from the Minister this evening. There is evidence of further serious erosion of the protective grasses covering the tailings pond and dangerously high levels of lead in the dust blowing from the surface of the tailings. The company has failed to maintain the protective cover or to develop a long-term sustainable plan for the area. Due to the dry spell and the failure of the company to maintain the existing cover on the tailings, a further 30 acre area is eroding and readings taken by the EPA show that the dust contains dangerously high levels of lead. Every monitor has recorded exceeding levels but the more recent figures show even higher levels of excesses of lead in the area around the Gortmore tailings pond than normal. That indicates that there is further erosion and that the problem is more serious than we had thought.
There is no short-term plan for dealing with this. Deputy Eamon Ryan of the Green Party, who is a member of the Committee on Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources, told me last week that his party had asked questions of the Minister on this issue. I looked at the answers today and was astonished to read that the Minister said "there is an emergency action plan operated by Mogul and the local authority to deal with dust blows and other problems which may occur at the tailings pond". I have news for the Minister — this action plan is not working and in my correspondence with the local authority and the EPA, I discovered that one group is passing the buck to the other. The council says it is Mogul Ireland's problem, Mogul Ireland is doing nothing, the council is doing nothing and, as a result, an existing environmental problem is deteriorating further and the local community is totally frustrated.
I was also surprised to see in the answer to the parliamentary question that the Department "has not received any notification of occurrences of serious dust blows or escapes of polluted leachate at the site in recent years. The last recorded serious dust blow occurred in the mid 1980s". Continuous monitoring of the dust blowing in the area shows there is a constant excess of lead and other heavy metal levels.
In view of this I am amazed to find that the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources states in answer to a parliamentary question that there is effectively no dust blow in the Silvermines area, when anyone living in and visiting the area who stands around for five minutes can see there is a serious dust blow occurring continuously from the site. In light of recent events, that is, the failure of the company and the county council operating in tandem to ensure that the existing surface is maintained and watered in dry weather, there is even further erosion and the problem is getting worse rather than better.
There is much frustration in the area. It is coming to a point where people will need to ask questions as to why this problem is not being dealt with. It is not good enough that after years of talking and several expert reports and the expenditure of a good deal of money on consultants, we seem to be further away from any action being taken. While we wait for that action the situation is getting worse, the environment is being damaged and the community is forced to live in a deteriorated environment. That is why I have raised this matter and will continue to raise it until action is taken and we get satisfaction. I look forward to the Minister's reply.