Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will report on the response to the opening of a sinkhole at Magheracloone, County Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39865/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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514. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the arrangements in place for the monitoring of disused or historic mines that may develop a risk of causing the development of sinkholes or other forms of subsidence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39866/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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515. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the position with regard to the identification and monitoring of potential sinkholes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39867/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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516. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the location of closed or abandoned mines; the nature or designation of each mine, for example, open or shaft; the date on which an inspection or site visit was last carried out or reported to his Department in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39868/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take questions Nos. 513 to 516, inclusive, together.

A land subsidence incident in the grounds of the Magheracloone GAA club was reported on Monday morning, 24 September affecting lands above the disused underground gypsum mine at Drumgoosat, Co. Monaghan. An investigation team engaged by the company, incorporating mining engineers from the UK, arrived at the site to assess the situation and determine the scale and cause of the subsidence and the risk of further events occurring in the area. My Department’s senior geologists and I visited the site on Tuesday 25th September. Since then, officials of the Department have been liaising with the company and the other regulatory authorities on an ongoing basis and have continued to monitor the situation closely.

The initial Gyproc investigation has identified that recent mining operations involving the transport and storage of water in an old part of the mine, previously unused for water storage, resulted in the collapse. The initial report further indicates that these circumstances do not appear to be present elsewhere in the vicinity, though the company is taking all precautions and conducting further investigations to ensure this is the case.

Gyproc has verified that the area of subsidence, known technically as the disturbance zone, at Magheracloone GAA Club is approximately 120 metres in radius. Gyproc is confident that if there is any further subsidence, it will be confined to this zone. Outside of the actual disturbance zone, an area including five houses and two stretches of public road has been identified for investigation. This is being done on a precautionary basis, as is the closure to traffic of certain sections of road, including part of the main Carrickmacross to Kingscourt (R179) road.

Ireland has a mining heritage that extends back to the Bronze Age. Mining has occurred at hundreds of sites, the majority of which are not the legal responsibility of the State (the relevant private mineral owner or landowner is responsible in most cases). The Department maintains an inventory of sites at which historical mining is known to have occurred in compliance with Article 20 of the Extractive Industries Waste Directive (2006/21/EC).

Although the majority of abandoned mines in Ireland are not the legal responsibility of the State, over 80 individual sites have been assessed in relation to the potential risk posed to human and animal health and the environment between 2006 and 2009, as part of a joint investigation undertaken by the Geological Survey Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency and the Exploration and Mining Division of the Department. The main findings of this investigation are available from .

The high-risk mining sites identified have been inspected on numerous occasions in recent years. In collaboration with the Office of Public Works, mine safety works have been completed at a number of these sites, including Silvermines, Avoca, Allihies, Bunmahon, and various small 19th century workings.

All current underground mining operations (Navan, Drummond), and recently-closed mines (Galmoy and Lisheen), are required to undertake ground subsidence monitoring and to report the results to the Department. All current mines are, in addition, inspected twice yearly by an independent Mining Expert and the Department.

Between 1998 and 1999, the Department also contracted external consultants to independently review the subsidence risk of the underground gypsum mines, near Kingscourt. The report recommended detailed underground inspections and a programme of periodic measurement of surface levelling points and surface inspections in those areas of the mine lying below public roads and buildings. This follow-up work was undertaken by the independent consultants between 2001 and 2005. Arising from this work, a programme of subsidence monitoring was implemented at these mines by Gyproc.