A recent planning application to Laois County Council by the ESB for the removal of asbestos waste buried in the grounds of a power station and the removal of asbestos contained in the buildings prior to its ultimate removal to an approved site has raised serious concerns among people in the Portarlington area. The main concern is that Portarlington will be used as a permanent dumping site for this asbestos. The ESB has stated that this is the beginning of the complete removal process, but the ESB's licence to transfer waste to a firm in Germany expires in March and this has raised considerable concern. The process involving the present planning application lodged, the possibility of an appeal and the examination of an environmental impact study also lodged could not possibly be completed before March 1996.
I call on the ESB to remove immediately to an approved site the asbestos currently held in bags on the site. This would reassure the people of the town of the ESB's ultimate intentions. People's fears have grown due to the long delay in solving the problem there. The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, the ESB, the county council, public representatives and the people of the area would like to see a satisfactory conclusion to this problem. Many questions need to be answered before the public is satisfied this is the case.
As the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications is ultimately responsible for the actions of the ESB, I call on him to ensure it begins immediately to remove the asbestos from the site in Portarlington. Otherwise, the sincerity of its intentions must be open to question.
The Seanad adjourned at 8.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 25 May 1995.