James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

This is probably one of the greatest public health issues we have encountered during the lifetime of this Dáil. We have reports which show that the level of mercury in the soil is 281ppm, when action should be taken when the level is 10ppm. This causes severe neurotoxicity in people and is well known to be a major cause of neurological disease and disorder. We do not have any statistics for the incidence of neural diseases in the Cobh area, and it would be interesting to get them. However, we know that chromium 6 is there and is a carcinogenic. We also know from the National Cancer Registry that there has been a 44% increase in the incidence of cancer in the Cobh area. We are in a situation where there is a known carcinogen on site. We have information showing there is an increased incidence of cancer in the immediate area. One plus one equals two — this is an urgent issue the Minister needs to address.

There have been reports in the newspapers drawing an analogy between this case and the Erin Brockovich case. Even if the Minister does not have a moral or ethical problem with this, there is a great litigation bill coming down the tracks if we do not take action and make this as safe as possible as soon as we know about it. Now that we know about it, we need to act on it. We need to know what actions the Minister will take. It is not sufficient to await another report that will take several more months, exposing people in the interim to this carcinogen.

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