Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lowry. He is right. I attended what was effectively a public meeting in Silvermines recently with the Deputy and his colleagues in Tipperary, which I think was very useful. There was ill-feeling about the issues and historical legacies of Silvermines. It shows the importance of other new mines that are being developed and the remediation fund which unfortunately was not there as part of the Silvermines development. Following discussions with the Department, the Chief State Solicitor's office wrote to the solicitor acting on behalf of the owners of the Gortmore tailings facility stating that, in effect, in the event that the owner does not wish to negotiate along the lines of the previous offer, the Department would consider retention by the owner of the site subject to a comprehensive management plan being submitted by the owner and signed off by a suitable expert. There has been no response to this letter to date. I understand that the Department, via the Chief State Solicitor's office, has, in the last week or so, contacted the landowners to again seek a response to the November 2017 letter and to remind them that they have an onus to keep horses off the older, remediated parts of the site. Following an update in February 2018, approximately 25 horses were found to be on the site. That is the site that has not been remediated by the Department. The result has been significant damage to the grass which was seeded directly onto the tailing.

This is an issue for which there is ongoing monitoring by the Department and ongoing liaison with the landowners through their solicitors, with a view to seeking a response to the letter of November 2017 and a follow-up to that. The funding provided in the Estimates is open to possible compensation. There is the possibility of the purchase of other sites subject to work being initiated by Tipperary County Council, which we have not heard about, and I know the chief executive was present at that meeting as well as experts in the area from the local authority. We are open to assisting Tipperary County Council should it come forward with proposals for other parts of the Silvermines site. We are still in liaison with regard to the Gortmore tailings facility. As the Deputy said, there have been discussions with the veterinary officers in Tipperary relating to that site. As the Deputy knows, an inter-agency group is dealing with previous issues relating to incidents of animal disease in certain areas. That work is going on and there is ongoing mapping of the lands owned by farmers in that vicinity, to ensure that there is best management and best practice and that there is no soil contamination entering into fodder. Much work is being done by the Department in liaison with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the veterinary office in the area and local landowners.