LISMORE SITE STILL IN JUDICIAL LIMBO

After a series of fires that consumed the site of the former recycling plant in Lismore, Samshire Recycling Ltd, the future of the plant still appears to be in judicial limbo.

The clean-up plan which was to have been submitted by the owner of the facility hasn’t materialised, an extension wasn’t requested and the case is reverting back to the High Court.

A month ago, on July 21st, the High Court ruled in the case Waterford County Council v Graham Leake, owner of the former plant, that the latter had to provide the council with a plan for recovery, removal and disposal of the waste material at the plant within three weeks from the High Court decision, unless an extension was granted.

The order also stipulated that the programme of clearance works would have to commence within one week of acceptance of the written plan, by Waterford County Council.

Since the council has received nothing to that effect, no plan, no notification and not even a request for an extension, it is back to square one, in the hands of the court.

Graham Leake, UK resident, who was represented in court by his legal advisor, is now officially “in breach of the High Court order,” said Mr. Luke O’Brien, administrator with the Environmental Department at Waterford County Council.

While the case is fought in court and no resolution to it is anywhere in sight, the site of the former recycling plant remains an eyesore and a health and environmental hazard as Lismore Deputy Mayor, Bernard Leddy, points out.

“It is an exposed site, a huge gaping hole, now a very high environmental and health risk that no one wants to do anything about,” he said.

In response to the matter Mr. O’Brien stated, “The site is being monitored fortnightly by an environmental specialist company, which is running air monitoring tests.”

The Samshire Recycling plant has been a contentious subject in the Lismore area for a long time, due not only to the potential health and safety hazard it poses for the nearby residents, but also for the unsightly view that it presents of Lismore.

 

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