Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Nov 1989

Vol. 123 No. 8

Adjournment Matter. - Cork Industrial Development.

Mr. O'Keeffe

First of all, I extend my gratitude to the Cathaoirleach for taking this matter on the Adjournment. It is an extremely important matter from our point of view in Cork with regard to industrial development in the area. I ask the Chair for permission to divide my time between Senator Dennis O'Donovan and, across the way, my friend, Senator Professor Tom Raftery.

I welcome the decision of Sandoz to locate in Ringaskiddy because in my view it is vital that this application be successful, given the fact that it has been submitted to probably one of the most thorough and comprehensive impact studies ever produced by a chemical company in Ireland about to set up. I would also like to emphasise the fact that the project itself and the impact study is totally in line with EC directive 85/337 which all of us are aware has not officially been adopted in this country but, hopefully, will before the year is out.

Another aspect that is important in this debate is the fact that Sandoz has adopted an open door policy. It has invited all shades of opinion in the environmental society that pervades Ireland now, and particularly in Cork, to examine the proposals in detail. Indeed, a criticism that has been levelled at the impact study is that it is short in detail and not exhaustive. In my view this is countermanded by the fact that the Sandoz executives were prepared to provide confidential information about the processes being used in the Sandoz plant to REMU, which is the UCC-based study group, to Cork County Council, to Eolas and indeed to the organisation which has publicly stated its opposition to the plant. It must be clear to everybody that there is no wish on the part of this company to hide anything. There is a clear commitment to providing meaningful employment and high quality industry, that will also ensure proper protection of our environment.

It can also be pointed out that the Sandoz company in choosing Ringaskiddy had very good reasons for doing so, because the necessary infrastructure was in place, that is, the water facilities, sewerage facilities and an excellent road infrastructure. It would also be appropriate to point out that this company intends to utilise what is termed state of the art technology with regard to the disposal of all effluents, be they water or indeed atmospheric.

Taking into account the problems associated with industry already in existence in Ringaskiddy, there are a number of important issues which should be clarified for people who have reservations about chemical plants in general and particularly about this plant. That is that the BOD, or what they call the biochemical oxygen demand from this plant — and that relates to liquid effluent — is, in fact, about one-twentieth of some of the other companies already operating in the area. That is exceptionally low for a plant of the size proposed. In relation to pollution the area has historically been associated with nauseous odours, some odours, of course, from which in the past and, indeed, now, all of us wish to dissociate ourselves.

What is important about this plant is that they do not intend to use mercaptans, which have been the source of smells from other factories in the area. I should also point out that using natural gas again decreases or minimises the emissions of sulphur dioxide to the atmosphere, something that would not happen with plants using oil. These issues in themselves, technical issues as they are, should allay the fears of people living in the area and who previously held the opinion that no further chemical industries should be allowed into Ringaskiddy until the difficulties that are there at the moment had been eradicated.

I think it would be disastrous if the Sandoz Company were blamed for the sins of others. Indeed, I would say that the Sandoz Company should be complimented in that since they have come to Ireland they have called on all the other companies in the area to make monitoring results available. May I compliment, in particular, Pen Chemicals, Pfizers and, indeed, the others who have responded to this call by ensuring that in future such information will be made available? May I also use the opportunity to point out that those companies with whom nauseous odours are associated are also taking steps now to eradicate this problem? It is only fair to point out that in the case of Pen Chemicals they are ploughing in £4 million to eradicate the problem and in the case of one other company we have an investment of £500,000 to bring it into line with EC Directive 85/337.

I think it would be wrong of me to allow the occasion to pass without complimenting the Ringaskiddy Community Association who have acted extremely responsibly with regard to the establishment of this plant. They showed great foresight in having organised a study through REMU to indicate clearly to the residents in that area what was entailed in the plant. I am glad to say that the report produced by these experts has indicated quite clearly that there will be no damage to the environment or, indeed, any damage to health. It was a pleasure — and Senator Raftery was with me — to attend a meeting of 400 people in the Ringaskiddy area who were proindustry and who gave vent to their feelings on how they wish an industry such as this would come into the area. Indeed, it was gratifying that last weekend a poll conducted in the area was positive in the extreme; it was 60 to 40 per cent.

I would also like to compliment the Sandoz Company for one other feature that I think is vitally important to residents in that area. Through FÁS and the IDA they have now set out an assessment of school leaving patterns in the area and also they have established the number of unemployed people in that area. They have given a commitment for the future that, where all other things are equal, they will do their damndest to give local employment. I think this is one of the criticisms local people have expressed in the past, that they have got all the smells but none of the jobs. It is very gratifying to hear that, in the case of Sandoz, this will not happen.

I do not deny the right of people to ask questions, to be concerned about their environment, to demand an open door policy from chemical industries operating in Ireland and, indeed, in the harbour area. In fact, I support them. What I do not support, however, is emotional statements, which have not been backed up by scientific facts, emanating from many groups in the past. My hope is that when this application is being processed people will judge it on its merits rather than make spurious claims.

I would like also to use the opportunity to make this suggestion to the press. I suggest to them that surely editorial balance should not allow anybody without proper credentials to accuse the chemical industry without having justified claims. In the Cork area in the past we have seen people standing up and making the case that there is an increased incidence of cancer tumours in people in the Cork harbour area. It is of note that the Southern Tumour Registry, which is in the closing stages of making a report on this issue, took the most unusual step of publishing an interim statistical report totally in contradiction with the claims that were made.

As far as industry in Cork, is concerned it is worth noting that there are 60 major chemical companies in this country currently employing 12,000 people. They have shown an increase in output which has led to increased exports over the last ten years of 10 per cent per year. Currently they each spend £500 million in Ireland and contribute over £75 million per annum. If we take the case of one Cork company alone, Pfizers, that company this year alone contributed £36 million to the economy, £22 million of which was spent in the Cork region.

I think the people in Ringaskiddy have safeguards in that the Government have now produced an international study to examine the water quality and the air emissions in that area. I am aware that other studies have taken place which clearly indicate that the quality in Cork harbour has improved since the last study was carried out by O'Sullivans. The time has now come when we, as responsible citizens, who are trying to bring employment into this country for the many people who are unemployed, should call on the colleges of technology, the RTCs, the universities the employers and, indeed, the trade unions, to speak out on behalf of this industry and to give it the welcome that it deserves in Cork.

Mr. O'Donovan

I will be very brief. I would like to support my colleague, Senator O'Keeffe, in his very carefully prepared and deliberate speech in relation to the Sandoz industry in Cork. I am also cognisant that my colleague, Senator Raftery, wishes to speak on this.

Fortunately or unfortunately, over the last couple of months Cork has become the epicentre of debate on the pharmaceutical and chemical industry not alone in Cork but generally throughout Ireland. There seems to be a broad belief, which is being spurred on by what I would see to be a very small minority of people, that this type of industry is not welcome not alone in Cork city and that area of Ringaskiddy but throughout Cork county and indeed throughout Ireland. I am indeed very concerned about the environment generally. But it should be noted that the people in County Cork and the general city area, particularly around the Ringaskiddy area and Little Island, do not want industry down there at any cost. We would like to see industry there that is concerned about the environment. Sandoz in their approach to this type of industry have created history and have established a new milestone in that they have come into this area seeking local support before even submitting a planning application to Cork County Council.

I think it is also of historic importance that the community in Ringaskiddy decided to have their own referendum in the Ringaskiddy area. The community came together without any political initiative, totally on their own, and had a referendum whereby they decided that, as far as they were concerned as a local community, they would welcome Sandoz, subject, of course, to proper planning controls, air emission controls, etc. We have seen in the Cork region recently where any type of industry, particularly anything to do with pharmaceuticals or chemicals, has been knocked on the head. We had, in my view, a tragic and unfortunate situation in the east Cork area where a company, Merell Dow, eventually decided not to set up there, where every hurdle possible was put in their path.

We have a situation in Bantry Bay where there is an on-going extreme lobby by a small group against the proposed reopening of the oil terminal which, for a period of almost two decades, represented the economic and commercial viability of that peninsular area of west Cork. This is an unfortunate position in so far as that it may go abroad that the public in Cork are anti-industry. What we say down there is that we wish to see industry, but not at any cost; that the Sandoz application is the foundation for a new approach, where the public are consulted, where the local community have a say. Subsequent to that, the company, obviously, have to apply to Cork County Council. That application is current and sub judice. We have a situation and it must be overcome, where a small lobby have extreme views about the environment. We are all concerned about the environment, but these people are extremists and use every system to try to block and to stymie industrial development not alone in Cork but in other areas.

There is the initial step of applying to the local authority for planning permission. Subsequently, there may be an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, oral hearings, High Court, Supreme Court and possibly European Court appeals. This is unfortunate. There must be a balance. Sandoz have provided a balance in Cork. As has been outlined by the previous speaker, there is a new approach, which must be welcomed, where the community have a say. They have had their say, they have voted in favour of the setting up of this industry. Cork and Munster need employment, need jobs. Once these jobs are provided with suitable controls to safeguard the environment generally and to comply with local authority and planning reglations they must be welcomed.

Professor Raftery

It is a pleasure for me to co-operate with Senators O'Keeffe and O'Donovan on this issue. I welcome the proposal to build the Sandoz pharmaceutical plant in Ringaskiddy subject, of course, to conditions no less restrictive than they operate under in their home country of Switzerland and also provided, of course, that the regulatory authority of the county council would be given adequate resources to monitor and enforce the conditions.

As a peripheral nation with the highest transport cost to the central markets in Europe it makes good economic sense for us to concentrate on the high-tech, low volume, high value products such as pharmaceuticals and electronics which would be better able to withstand the transport costs to our main markets in central Europe. Furthermore, we have the required resources, plentiful supply of highly trained young people plus space, excellent water supply, an excellent working environment, to make a success of these high-tech industries, especially in the Cork harbour region and principally in Ringaskiddy which was developed specifically for such industry at a cost in excess of £100 million or nearer to £200 million in present day values of money. Despite this heavy cost and despite having one of the world's finest natural harbours in Cork, we have only a handful of industries to show for our huge investment.

The chemical industries already located there are very profitable and for the most part are clean and environmental friendly. Regrettably, some industries regularly release odours which cause great irritation among local residents who get little satisfaction from these companies or, indeed, from the county council.

The chemical industries, too, have been too secretive in the past, thus giving rise to all sorts of fears and suspicions. In this sort of atmosphere it was not surprising that considerable hostility has begun to build up against new chemical industry coming into the area, culminating in the deplorable debacle witnessed in the case of the Merell Dow plant proposed for Killagh, where the decisions of all the relevant organs of the State, county council, Bord Pleanála, EOLAS and even the High Court, were brushed aside by a hysterical pressure group led by a well-heeled minority. Unfortunately, it was given moral support by some irresponsible politicians who had more of an eye on the ballot box than they had on the welfare of the area and its people. It was an inappropriate site in any case but that being said, the decision had been made.

Against this background it is imperative that the Sandoz application should succeed. Fortunately, it has got off to a very good start as Senator O'Keeffe pointed out. The company have been completely open with information and the residents of Ringaskiddy examined the proposal in a calm and responsible atmosphere, calling upon outside objective bodies such as University College, Cork to help them in formulating their stance on the Sandoz proposals. Like Senator O'Keeffe, I congratulate the residents for the manner in which they approached this proposal and I am greatly relieved that they have voted by a majority to approve the location of Sandoz in Ringaskiddy. Failure to approve the proposal could well make the task of the Industrial Development Authority in attracting significant chemical companies to Cork in future well-nigh impossible.

I welcome the Sandoz proposal and I further welcome the vote in favour of Sandoz by the Ringaskiddy residents. Let us hope that the project will not be unduly delayed by objections and that Sandoz will become the flagship which will help to attract many more of the high-tech industries we so urgently need to stem the flow of emigration and to reduce the unemployment rate in Cork city and its environs which is among the highest in the country.

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

I welcome the opportunity of contributing to this debate and I want to thank the Senators, particularly the new Senators, Senators Denis O'Donovan, Batt O'Keeffe and Tom Raftery. Senator Larry McMahon is not a new Senator but I want to compliment him on his ingenuity and courage in the way he made his way back into the Seanad. Very well done.

The recent Merell Dow experience has highlighted the fact that industrial policy and promotion cannot be compartmentalised and separated from environmental issues, that the fact of the matter is that if we are to be successful in our industrial job creation drive, local residents in areas where industry is to be sited will have to be satisfied that the local and national economic benefits which these projects bring are not outweighed by their potential environmental disadvantages. In other words, we need jobs but no matter how badly we need them we are not for and we cannot have jobs at all costs as a basis for industrial policy. What we must do now is to learn from the Merell Dow experience and, indeed, from the experience of some maverick industries which we have had in the past. We certainly do not want to be the mudguard of Europe or any other part of the world for the dumping of dirty industries.

I want to place it on record that as far as I am concerned and as far as the Government are concerned it is vital that the Sandoz project goes ahead not just for the very substantial benefits that it brings in its own right but because of the impact that a negative decision on its part could have on our future job creation drive, especially in Cork but nationally also. In this context, Sandoz will locate in an area long designated precisely for industrial purposes, that is, in Ringaskiddy and is to be commended for the open and receptive way in which it has dealt with and is dealing with the concerns of the residents in the area.

It is the Government's intention that this project will adhere to the highest environmental standards and I know the company are at one with us in that objective. In fact in the overall cost of this project which is running up to £200 million, £27 million has been earmarked for environmental protection measures and that is the scale and size of the seriousness which the company are putting into environmental protection measures.

For that reason, the Government fully support the project and are most keen to see that it proceeds. The maintenance of a clear natural environment is important for its own sake, because it influences our quality of life, and because of its importance to our most important natural resource industries, tourism and the food sector. I am particularly interested in the food sector and its development and particularly the clean and pure environment in which food is produced. I have no difficulty in supporting the Sandoz project or projects which adhere to the strict conditions laid down and developing in harmony with an agricultural and food industry in this country.

Furthermore, concern about the environmental issue is fully justified and is, in fact, helpful in ensuring that it receives a priority which it may not have had in the past.

As you know the Programme for Government on which we are now embarked has led to the establishment of the Office for the Protection of the Environment, which is led by Minister of State, Deputy Harney, and to a commitment to the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency. This agency will be empowered to monitor and enforce, nationally and uniformly, compliance with anti-pollution regulations. I am sure my Cork colleagues, particularly, would suggest to the Minister, the Department and to the Government that it might be a good idea, as we have the headquarters of the pharmaceutical and chemical industry in Cork, that this particular agency might be set up and established there. There is nobody from Cork objecting to that.

Senators

Hear, hear.

Mr. Walsh

I see the new agency as having a critical role to play in underpinning public confidence in environmental protection because of its unique focus on this task. The Government anticipate that it will be up and running next year. Public confidence must also be supported by greater openness on the part of industry and a greater responsiveness to environmental issues on the part of public authorities and public agencies generally.

I have already indicated the Government's view that industrial development and environmental policy are inextricably linked. For this reason, the IDA and SFADCo have been instructed to increase the priority which they attach to the environmental behaviour of companies in receipt of industrial grants. This is because the Government take the view that insistence on clean industry is the only viable approach to industrial development in the last decade of this century.

Obviously, the Sandoz decision to locate in Ringaskiddy, which both I and the Government particularly welcome and support, focuses attention on the situation relating to industry and the environment in that area, and especially relating to the chemical and pharmaceutical industry given the nature of the Sandoz product.

There have, of course, been many claims, some of them spurious, some without any scientific basis whatsoever. In particular, there was a claim about the incidence of cancer in the Cork harbour area allegedly deriving from some of the chemical/pharmaceutical operations there. I want to point out that where objective studies have been carried out, as was done by the Statistics Department of UCC under the direction of Dr. Michael Crowley, a distinguished academic from UCC of the highest integrity, that study showed that not alone was there not a higher incidence in the area but, in fact, it was found that a lower incidence of the disease occurred in that area.

A couple of weeks ago, the Minister of State, Deputy Harney, announced that a major study of the effluents and emissions discharged by existing industrial development in the Ringaskiddy area of County Cork is to be carried out by international consultants. The study is designed to address the public perception that some of these industries are not meeting acceptable standards and are not being effectively monitored. The study will be commissioned and funded by the Department of the Environment. Proposals for carrying it out are being invited from firms of international consultants who have first-hand knowledge of the matters at issue. In particular, the consultants will be required to have practical experience of process and pollution abatement technologies for the industrial sectors concerned, expertise in monitoring systems, and familiarity with relevant international standards. It is expected that the work will get under way towards the end of the year and be completed early in the New Year.

The intention is that the consultants' report will be made available to the firms concerned and to all other interests concerned with the environment and development in the Ringaskiddy area.

In particular, the report will serve as a basis for the review by Cork County Council and the new environmental protection agency of the standards and conditions imposed under the Water Pollution and Air Pollution Acts in relation to the plant and facilities concerned. The Minister of State expects that these standards and conditions would be amended, as appropriate, to bring them into line with the recommendations made by the consultants. The monitoring régimes which are relied on to check compliance with environmental standards would also be improved or extended in line with the recommendations.

Having dealt with the environmental initiatives the Government are taking at both national and regional level, it is worth recalling that the word "environment" can be defined as "the external conditions in which a person lives". Clearly, this refers not just to the right to green fields or clean air. A person's environment is also fundamentally determined and affected by his ability to get a job, to earn a decent wage and to provide a reasonable standard of living for his family. This side of the environmental issue must be brought back into the mainstream of the debate on industry and the environment. While we want a clean environment, we do not in Ireland want to end up as a national park, of interest only to visitors from mainland Europe and others throughout the world, but with no jobs for our own people.

This country needs jobs and Sandoz will bring them, both at the construction stage where it is estimated that 300 people will be employed for five years and on a continuing basis in respect of 250 permanent, high quality jobs and a further 150 to 200 jobs indirectly, and many more jobs and firms maintained in the area in ancillary industries.

The proposed facility at Rinaskiddy is for the manufacture of the active ingredients of drugs for medical preparations, specifically sandimmun, peptides and fine chemicals. These drugs, of course, are widely used in Ireland and throughout the world for the prevention of transplant rejection, in particular. In an unrefined form it will be isolated at a Sandoz affiliated plant abroad and brought as a solid to Ireland for purification. Peptides are complex proteins or chains of amino acids and the Cork plant is designed to produce seven named peptides. In addition, a variety of pharmaceutical compounds or fine chemicals will be produced by conventional chemical manufacturing methods.

It is worth noting that all of the drug ingredients now proposed for manufacture in Cork have already been manufactured abroad, principally at the Sandoz plant in Basle. Equally, I note from the EOLAS environmental impact study on the proposed Sandoz facility that the company has never experienced problems of fire, explosion or environmental pollution from the manufacture of these products and that the pharmaceutical division of Sandoz has an excellent safety record.

In adverting to this, it cannot be denied that the Sandoz agro division experienced a disastrous fire in 1986, well-highlighted in the newspapers, at a warehouse upstream from Basle on the Rhine. In fighting the fire with water, agro-chemicals were flushed into the Rhine, causing a massive fish kill and contamination of the bed of the river. Following this, the company adopted a new environmental policy which, inter alia, has lead to Sandoz receiving permission from the authorities in Basle to start construction of a Sandoz purification plant and a peptide synthesis plant similar in capacity and design to those proposed for Cork.

This is reassuring but it is more relevant to quote some of the statements in the EOLAS environmental impact assessment. Thus, for example, the design of the chemical storage arrangements are based on guidelines which represent the very best international practice. The potential of industrial facilities to use major accident hazards is controlled by EC Directive 82/501/EEC and the Sandoz facility does not possess the criteria which would classify it as a major accident hazard under that directive. Equally, the proposed chemical usage list does not include any substance contained in list 1 of the EC Directive on Dangerous Substances in the Aquatic Environment. Nor does it include heavy metal compounds or highly odorous sulphur chemicals such as mercaptans.

EOLAS consider that the Sandoz proposal to use incinerators represents the best technology for destruction of organic vapour and liquids and the incinerator will be fitted with a range of fail-safe equipment to prevent operation unless conditions are correct.

The foregoing is not meant to represent an exhaustive inventory of the environmental aspects of Sandoz. Rather, it is a brief indication of the results of a detailed and intensive assessment of their plans for Ringaskiddy. It reflects well on the company and their willingness to do and be seen to do everything possible to reassure the residents in the vicinity of the proposed facility; in other words, to be good neighbours to their own industry, to the general industry and to the residents in the area in particular.

I am confident that this open and co-operative attitude, combined with the conditions which will be laid down by Cork County Council, particularly in the light of the consultancy study being commissioned by the Department of the Environment, will lay the groundwork for the establishment of an operation which will be of immense benefit to the local and national economy, and which will represent a flagbearer for our future industrial job creation drive.

Taken with the fact that the new environmental protection agency will be up and running well before Sandoz commences production, the Ringaskiddy residents had every reason for confidence in voting in favour of the establishment of the Sandoz plant in their area. Let me conclude by reiterating that both I and the Government heartily endorse that vote of the Ringaskiddy residents.

The Seanad adjourned at 8.50 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 30 November 1989.