Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 12 Jun 2003

Vol. 568 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Chemical Spill.

Ms Burton

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise the matter of the near disaster which occurred at Mulhuddart, Dublin, a couple of days ago. Barrels fell from a lorry and discharged dangerous amounts of nitric acid into the atmosphere. Luckily, there appear to have been very limited casualties, but the accident happened close to a school and a community centre and in the vicinity of many thousands of houses. The spill was also close to the River Tolka which means there could have been an environmental disaster. The local authority and emergency services dealt with the spill quickly and I thank them for their hard work.

Tonight, I call on Fingal County Council and, more specifically, on the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, to review as a matter of urgency the traffic arrangements on Church Road, Mulhuddart. Can the Minister state clearly if there is any enforcement of safety regulations relating to the transport of dangerous chemicals? What happened this week was, in many ways, an accident waiting to happen. A similar incident occurred within the last month on one of the approaches to the M50. Over recent years, many chemical companies have opened in the industrial estates around Dublin 15 which are located beside many thousands of homes. While the planning and safety aspects of the plant installations are carefully regulated, it appears that no attention is being paid by enforcement authorities to the transportation of chemicals. The transportation of dangerous chemicals must be regulated carefully to prevent accidents such as the one under discussion. My understanding is that regulations exist which may well need to be updated, but there appears to be no sign of enforcement.

Residents in the area have complained for many years of heavy lorries using this particular road. In recent years, several thousand new homes have been built in the area at Castlecurragh, Tyrellstown and elsewhere. The area has also seen the development of substantial industrial estates, including Damastown, where there are a number of chemical companies. Also located nearby is the IBM campus.

An inquiry by the Minister for Transport is required to discover how such dangerous chemicals were being carried in a large residential area in what was effectively an open-sided lorry with curtains on both sides. The council has been talking for the last ten years about introducing traffic calming measures on the narrow country road on which the accident happened. It has also proposed closing the road to lorries and providing alternative routes. In ten years very little has happened. The road's development is ongoing, but there is no replacement route yet available. This is typical of much infrastructural development in Dublin 15. While the houses and the industrial estates have come, the infrastructure of roads, public transport and schools has been slow to develop.

The lorry in this case seems to have been travelling to a local chemical plant, but in many instances lorries use Mulhuddart and Church Road, in particular, as a rat-run to avoid the M50 toll bridge. In other cases lorries are using back roads from Finglas to run more quickly across to Lucan and the west. The accident has raised serious questions about the management of lorries in the greater Dublin area. Is there a protocol regarding lorry movements in Dublin other than the three tonne restriction signs on smaller roads? As industrial estates and housing developments are so often side by side as a result of current planning and development, small roads are being utilised by inappropriate vehicles. A serious review of the matter is called for. There appears to be no protocol or agreement among local authorities and the Department in relation to these important issues.

Thankfully, the damage and casualties from this incident appear to have been limited. However, I ask the Minister to look at the issue as a matter of urgency.

Mr. J. Higgins

I am happy to raise with Deputy Burton this important matter. Once it was appropriate to inspect the area without interruption to the emergency personnel coping with the spillage of nitric acid in Mulhuddart, I examined the site in some detail. I was quite horrified by what I established from the incident. The truck, which was still in situ and still had four barrels of nitric acid on board, had only canvas sides and the barrels were not fastened to the body of the vehicle. Furthermore, the plastic barrels of nitric acid were sitting on wooden pallets which allowed them to shift easily if the truck negotiated a roundabout and tilted as a result. This was an incident waiting to happen.

As the truck was carrying nitric acid, it was obliged by law to display the chemical's code prominently on the back of the vehicle to allow emergency services to identify immediately what they were dealing with. From what I could see, no such code was displayed and the code which was displayed indicated that the truck was transporting a multimix of chemicals which is a further violation. I thank the emergency services who did a good job. This was a serious incident, but it could have been much worse. Quite a number of people were taken to hospital for observation, but, happily, no one was admitted. That could have been different if school had been out at the time and hundreds of children were crossing at that point on their way home. The acid ran down the hill in the direction of the Tolka River and if it had been raining, a stream of surface water would have carried it in and created a drastic scenario. Is this common practice on roads in Dublin 15 and elsewhere? Can the Minister outline the regulations available to the authorities to protect communities and the travelling public on public roads in this regard? Can the Minister outline the steps, if any, taken on a routine basis to ensure that trucks carrying chemicals or dangerous materials are complying with regulations and are not putting lives at risk?

There is a great deal of industry in this area. The truck owner had an address in Robin Hood Industrial Estate in south-west Dublin but the delivery was going to a local facility.

It is ten years since elected councillors secured a three tonne weight limit on traffic on Mulhuddart bridge, although on this occasion the truck did not go over the bridge. The authorities have refused to implement the limit. The first excuse was that the M50 was not open. When it was open they still refused to implement it. This entirely inappropriate heavy traffic, therefore, continues to use roads that were built for horses and carts. Further measures must be taken to ensure this is stopped.

These materials need to be transported on roads, whether it is on larger public roads or, in some cases, on by-roads when they are the only route into an industrial estate. However, we need assurances that the working class community in Dublin 15 and similar communities throughout the country are protected from cowboy operators who act in such a way that incidents such as yesterday's occur, resulting in serious risk to people's lives and health.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food (Mr. Treacy)

On Tuesday, 10 June 2003 at approximately 9.15 a.m., an incident took place in Mulhuddart involving a Scania 40 foot curtain sided vehicle which lost a number of 205 litre drums of nitric acid on approach to a roundabout at Church Road, Mulhuddart. It appears that four of the drums ruptured on impact with the ground, resulting in a loss of approximately half of the contents of each drum. The Tánaiste wishes to express the concern of the Government at the seriousness of this incident and the potential for injury and loss of life. Thankfully, the situation was not worse and the Tánaiste wishes a speedy recovery to those who were injured.

The initial response to the incident came from the fire services and the Garda Síochána. I understand that the first fire tender was on the scene at 9.20 a.m. and the gardaí were on the scene at 9.27 a.m. The Health and Safety Authority was first made aware of the incident at 10.15 a.m. The authority confirmed the incident details with the gardaí to initiate its investigation into the incident in accordance with the relevant provisions of the main legislation concerned. It should be noted that responsibilities attach to a number of other statutory bodies, including the gardaí, the fire services and the relevant local authority, which were involved both in responding to this incident and in its aftermath. The role of the Health and Safety Authority represents only one element of any general emergency response to an incident such as this.

The Tánaiste does not have ministerial responsibility for those other statutory bodies and she is not in a position to comment on the actions undertaken by these bodies or on their specific role in relation to this incident. However, the authority is liaising with the Garda Síochána and the fire services. The relevant safety legislation is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Act 1998 and the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 2001.

The transport of dangerous goods by road is a highly regulated activity. The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 2001, SI 492 of 2001, made under the Carriage of Danger ous Goods by Road Act 1998, apply to the carriage, both in bulk and in packages, of dangerous goods by road, including the loading and unloading of the dangerous goods in regard to their carriage. They give effect to the United Nations convention, referred to as the ADR international agreement, on the transport of dangerous goods by road and relevant EU directives and set out a comprehensive framework for the safe transport of dangerous goods by road. The regulations are currently being updated to give effect to the 2003 version of the ADR agreement.

The regulations impose duties on the consignor and on the carrier of the dangerous goods and on the driver of the vehicle carrying the goods. They contain requirements for the vehicles, tanks, tank containers, receptacles and packages containing the dangerous goods during their carriage. They require that the drivers and others involved in the carriage of the dangerous goods by road, including their loading and unloading, be adequately trained and, in the case of drivers, hold certificates of such training. They also contain provisions on an EC harmonised approach to the road checks aspect of their enforcement.

In general, the duties of consignors and carriers include that goods must be stowed and secured in a manner which precludes any loss of contents, packaging must be labelled in accordance with ADR requirements, written instructions must be provided to the driver and the driver must understand these. The duties of the driver include not driving unless trained; safeguarding the goods in transport; and ensuring the safe operation of the vehicle.

The Health and Safety Authority is undertaking a detailed investigation into the circumstances of the incident. The focus of the investigation is to determine whether the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 2001 were complied with in this case. Deputies will understand that the Tánaiste cannot comment further on the case or speculate on possible causes or factors pending the outcome of that investigation and any possible action that may be necessary thereafter.