I thank the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Walsh, for extending his brief and coming to the House to respond to my remarks about regulations covering oil storage tanks.
People in Cavan woke up this morning to the news that the premises of their local newspaper, The Anglo Celt, had been destroyed by fire. When the Garda and fire services arrived at the scene, it appeared that there was a relatively small fire at the back of the building. However, an oil tank then exploded, producing a much more dangerous situation. Our thoughts are with the firemen who were injured while fighting the fire. Despite the injuries to their men, the fire service succeeded in preventing a much bigger disaster.
The case in Cavan is the latest example of the dangers posed by not having proper regulations in place to ensure that there are standards for storing oil. Unfortunately, I fear it will not be the last incident in a long list of accidents caused by these tanks. In most households and many schools, public houses and even hospitals oil is kept in plastic tanks at the back of the premises. Sometimes it is kept on top of the roof. Despite the obvious risks when there is a fire and of leaks, no proper standards are set for checking the safety of these tanks. Despite numerous representations from me and others over the years, there appears to be little movement on behalf of the Government to rectify this problem which is crucial to public safety. Throughout the years, I have attempted to ascertain what standards apply in this area only to discover the very disturbing fact that no standards apply to plastic storage tanks. The CEN standards being prepared by the European Standardisation Organisation will not be published until 2001.
When people choose to use oil to heat their homes, they need reassurance that the tanks in which the oil is stored will not create a health risk to themselves or their children or an acute safety risk in the case of fire or pollution. Just over a year ago, newspapers carried reports of a luxury house in Portmarnock which had been destroyed through the leakage of several gallons of oil into its foundations. The house had to be partially demolished to rectify a huge problem caused by a small crack in a plastic oil tank.
The health effects on children who live in an area soaked in oil are horrific, as doctors will testify. In Carrickfergus in September of 1995, families with young children were obliged to flee their blazing homes when a fire which started at the rear of a terraced house spread and several domestic oil tanks melted. There is an obvious lack of protection in the almost universal use of plastic rather than the more fire resistant material, metal. The increased use of plastic in this type of tank is a further indication of our blasé attitude towards plastic. We think plastic is more modern and must therefore be more efficient and safe. In fact, the more traditional metal oil containers can be recycled and repaired and are much more fire resistant than plastic tanks if well maintained.
Fire departments which have been faced with the destruction which occurs in the aftermath of fires involving oil tanks have called for investigations into the safety of plastic tanks. Following a fire which affected three houses in Naas, County Kildare, the fire chief for the county stated that the plastic oil tanks "would appear to have no resistance to fire.we would not consider them safe". The assistant Chief Fire Officer in Dublin in 1996 wrote that because of the lack of standards and the absence of tests to compare the safety of steel and plastic tanks he "could not recommend the use of such tanks at this point in time". If the fire services which witness daily the destruction and devastation caused by fires, call for plastic tanks to be regulated or banned, the Department should take note of their concerns.
There is still a lack of proper regulations in this area so the position of fire officers on this matter cannot have changed. With the almost complete dominance of plastic oil tanks in households and elsewhere, the situation is more urgent than ever. What measures will be taken to check tanks which have already been installed to ensure their are no splits or cracks in them? When will regulations and legislation be introduced? There have been many casualties in this area and we do not want to see further damage to people, property and the environment.
