Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State and I thank him for addressing this important matter. This is not the first time I have raised this issue in the House. I raise it this evening because it is an urgent matter. We use the term "urgent need" lightly, but I have placed this issue on the Adjournment because it is urgent that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government make a decision on the current plans before it on the company involved, Mogul of Ireland, and its obligation under clause K of the mining lease. Clause K of the mining lease, as it applies to Mogul of Ireland, is the only legal instrument available to the Department and to the State to require the company to rehabilitate those sites in the Silvermines area for which it is responsible.

The sites in question are the cause of major pollution. That is not my opinion; it has been found to be the case by an inter-agency group headed by the Department of Agriculture and Food. It has also been found to be the case by SRK Consultants which reported in 2002. Since then, the Department has engaged in close consultation and negotiation with Mogul of Ireland to come up with a satisfactory plan for the community which would ensure that the sites would be rehabilitated in a sustainable fashion. This plan would have to ensure that dust would no longer blow from 147 acres of tailings pond in the Silvermines area, containing toxic materials including heavy metals. Monitors around the tailings pond show dust with elevated lead levels and other dangerous heavy metals blowing around the Silvermines area.

Other sites are causing difficulty such as the old drums on the side of the hill, which were abandoned by the company when mining ceased in the 1980s. The areas known as the Garryard stockpile and the Garryard lagoon have both been identified as highly toxic. None of these have been managed in a satisfactory manner.

The Statute of Limitations on clause K runs out next Tuesday, 30 November 2004 and we have a very serious situation on our hands. The latest plan submitted by the company is far from satisfactory. The EPA, the county council, the technical advisers of the Gortmore environmental action group and the SRK consultants have all stated this to be the case. I am concerned that there might be a possibility that the Department will discuss this plan with the company and that the plan might proceed.

I call on the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to end this charade with Mogul of Ireland. He must accept that this company will never carry out this rehabilitation in a satisfactory manner or in a manner that has the confidence of the community. I call on him to initiate proceedings against the company for what is clearly a failure to rehabilitate these sites. The company has failed to live up to its responsibility to the local community and has caused a situation where there are a number of polluted sites. It has continued to accept a situation where there are 147 acres in an eroded state causing major pollution in the Silvermines area and causing toxic dust to be blown around the area.

I call on the Department to initiate proceedings against Mogul of Ireland and to ensure that this job of rehabilitation is given to some agency that is ready to implement a plan as soon as possible. We know that waste permits and waste licences will be needed and that the whole framework of environmental legislation will have to kick into place before this can happen. There is a major concern about what will happen in the community now that clause K is running out and no satisfactory plan has been developed. Who will ensure that this community can live in a safe and clean environment after so many years of living with pollution?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. The then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, standing in for my predecessor, covered the subject of the proposed rehabilitation works required at Silvermines in some detail in a previous Adjournment debate on 7 July 2004. Since that date, Mogul of Ireland lodged its revised proposals for rehabilitation of the clause K sites with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. In accordance with an agreed open and consultative approach, these proposals were circulated to all interested parties for comment. Following these consultations, areas of deficiency were identified and these were communicated to Mogul's consultants at a meeting on 23 September. This was followed up more formally with a letter to Mogul dated 27 September setting out the areas for which further clarification was required. Mogul was asked to respond by 29 October. It was impressed strongly on Mogul that it had to respond on time and to comprehensively address the requests in the Department's letter. In the event, the company's response was received by the Department on 3 November.

While the latest proposals submitted by Mogul of Ireland are a substantial improvement on those previously submitted they continue to suffer from lack of specification and detail. These deficiencies were pointed out to Mogul at a meeting held in the Department on 19 November and Mogul has to address these issues and revert to the Department with the additional information required within a very short timeframe. As well as continuing concern about the lack of detail in the proposals, there remains a high level of uncertainty that the company has the technical and financial capacity to rehabilitate all of the clause K sites for which they are responsible.

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is aware that Gortmore action group is not satisfied with the proposals for Gortmore. The Department previously met the group and heard its concerns in Nenagh on 18 October 2004. The Department has offered to meet the group at an early date to ensure that its concerns will be fully reflected in a comprehensive report on a way forward. This report will set out clearly the Department's view on the prospects of the current dialogue with Mogul of Ireland delivering the rehabilitation work to the satisfaction of all concerned. It will contain the Department's judgment on whether the company has access to the considerable resources needed to carry out all of the rehabilitation work required under clause K. The Minister has serious difficulties with any À la carte approach to rehabilitation, whereby sites possibly requiring large financial resources may not be rehabilitated while others are rehabilitated as commercial opportunities may exist.

The legal issues raised by the Statute of Limitations have been the subject of discussions between the Department, the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General for some time. Following full consideration of all the issues, including legal advice, documentation which will ensure compliance with the Statute of Limitations, among other matters, will be served this week. The Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, intends to continue the current dialogue with the company, at least until the comprehensive report to which I have referred is given to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)
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The Minister of State said that "documentation which will ensure compliance with the Statute of Limitations, among other matters, will be served". I understand what he means when he says it "will be served", but how can the continuation of dialogue be said to be a consequence of that? I understand that the serving of documentation creates a kind of cut-off point.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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That may well be the case. The Department has been advised that it cannot continue to engage in dialogue after the papers have been served. It could be sub judice at that point. It will continue its dialogue until the comprehensive report has been delivered if that is helpful, but it will be guided by its legal advisers when deciding whether to continue. If it can continue I think it should do so because progress can be made when people are speaking to each other. Very little progress can be made if we are not speaking to each other. I will keep the Senator advised in that regard.

Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State.